If production is approved, oil and gas will be pumped up through a large ship 80 miles north west of Shetland
Labour MPs have called on the government to reject the Rosebank oil field, saying it is "incompatible" with the UK's climate commitments.
There is a growing expectation among senior Labour figures that drilling in the oil field off the north-west coast of Shetland will be given the go-ahead.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Wednesday that a decision would be "taken in due course" while Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh stressed that affordability of energy bills was her "overriding objective".
But in a sign of the division within the party, about a dozen Labour MPs expressed concerns about approving it during a Westminster Hall debate in Parliament.