DEVELOPERS of the controversial Cambo oil and gas project near Shetland announced today that it has paused the project.

Siccar Point said it was going to evaluate the next steps for the project in the North Sea after Shell pulled out last week. 

The energy company’s chief executive Jonathan Roger said his company was in a position where the Cambo project cannot progress on the originally planned timescale.

He said the company continued to believe in the proposals put forward, which have long been opposed by green groups.

Greenpeace UK political campaigner Sam Chetan-Welsh said: “Both the Westminster and Scottish governments now need to end support for new oil and gas infrastructure.

“They should urgently deliver a just transition to clean energy, providing the money, policy and training to ensure the communities who have relied on the oil industry can move to the green jobs of the future.”

Last week Shell, which had a 30 per cent stake in the development, said it had “concluded the economic case for investment in this project is not strong enough at this time, as well as having the potential for delays.”

In November, Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the project should not go ahead.

It followed months of pressure from opposition parties and campaigners for the Scottish government to make its position on Cambo clear.

Industry body Oil and Gas UK previously said blocking long-planned energy projects like Cambo would risk leaving Britain at the mercy of global energy shortages.

Scottish Greens climate spokesman Mark Ruskell said Cambo was now “looking increasingly unlikely,” calling for investment in renewable energy projects instead of oil and gas projects. 

Friends of the Earth Scotland’s head of campaigns Mary Church said: “This is another nail in the coffin for the Cambo oil field. 

“Climate science is very clear that fossil fuels are driving the crisis and new projects anywhere in the world are a threat to people everywhere.”

She called on the Westminster government to officially reject Cambo and end licensing for all new oil and gas projects.

However, GMB general secretary Gary Smith warned that cheerleaders for Cambo’s shutdown were throwing energy workers under the bus, pointing out that Britain paid almost £20 billion in the year to June to foreign countries for oil and gas imports.