The multi billion pound Rosebank development in the North Sea has the potential to unlock a fifth of the UK’s remaining oil reserves, Energy Minister Charles Hendry has said.

Oil giant Chevron said the project, 80 miles northwest of the Shetland Islands, will create more than a thousand jobs in the oil and gas supply chain, with an additional 300 out of its Aberdeen base.

The Aberdeen jobs will involve operating the deepwater oil and gas field, both from onshore and from offshore.

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The Rosebank field was discovered eight years ago and is expected to hold up to 240m barrels of recoverable oil.

It is on the edge of the UK's continental shelf and is a more difficult area to drill in, as well as being riskier for the environment, due to extreme weather conditions and water depths of up to 3,700ft.

In 2010, Greenpeace activists attached themselves to the Stena Carron drill to prevent it moving our to another western field in the North Sea.

Chevron is set to develop a floating production vessel, production wells and a gas export pipeline at the Rosebank site.

The company's managing director for Europe, Brenda Dulaney, said: "Rosebank is an important project for Chevron and the West of Shetland region, which holds a significant portion of the UK's undeveloped oil and gas resources."

Mr Hendry said the increased activity on the Rosebank field was "a boost for the UK’s energy security and the economy".

(NE)