THE controversial development of the Cambo oilfield now looks set to go ahead after its owner was bought out.

Siccar Point Energy, which has a 70% stake in the field, put the project on “pause” after oil giant Shell pulled out from its 30% share.

However, Siccar has now been taken over by Ithaca Energy in a $1.5bn (£1.125bn) deal.

The new owner of the field, Ithaca Energy has pledged to develop Cambo as well as the nearby Rosebank field, according to reports from the BBC.

Ithaca's chief executive Alan Bruce said Cambo and Rosebank were "two of the largest undeveloped and most strategically important discoveries" in UK waters.

READ MORE: If Cambo showed us anything, it's that the UK is holding Scotland back

He said the development of the sites was a "huge opportunity to not only help secure the UK's energy future for at least another quarter of a century, but also to create thousands of direct and indirect jobs in the process”.

A spokesperson for Shell, which still owns a 30% stake in Cambo, told the BBC that its position remained unchanged from when it "concluded the economic case for investment in this project is not strong enough at this time”.

The oil field became a flash point for protestors during Cop26, with Alok Sharma's speech as Cop president seeing the UK branded "hypocrites" for allowing the field to go ahead.

Ithaca Energy is registered in Aberdeen. Its most recent accounts - which should have been submitted by December 31, 2021 - are currently overdue, according to Companies House.

Where is the Cambo oil field?

The National:

The Cambo field is 125km north-west of the Shetland Islands and is located near two other oil fields - Rosebank and Schiehallion. It sits on the Corona Ridge structural feature and is one of the deepest fields discovered in Northern Europe - in 1100m of water.

When was the Cambo oil field discovered and how much oil is there?

The huge oil field was first discovered back in 2002 when it had five wells drilled into the structure. An exploration licence for the area was granted in 2001.

It is believed to contain over 800 million barrels of oil and has been referred to as one of the “largest undeveloped fields on the UK continental shelf”.

If the Cambo field manages to reach its 51,000 boe/day (barrels of oil equivalent per day) as it intends to, it would make it the fifth biggest producer on the UK Continental shelf.

What will the environmental impact be if it goes ahead?

The International Energy Agency has said that to meet the 1.5°C in the Paris Agreement - there should be no more development of oil, gas or coal projects.

The amount of oil and gas in already operating fields in the UK - excluding Cambo - will already exceed the UK’s share of emissions in relation to Paris climate goals. The climate impact from producing and burning all 800 million barrels of oil in the field would be the equivalent of 10 times Scotland’s annual emissions.