UK Government action could ‘unlock’ 100-plus oil and gas projects, say bosses

Tessa Khan, executive director of Uplift, has hit out at OEUK and insists Prime Minster Andy Burnham should listen to scientists after the news that UK Government action could ‘unlock’ 100-plus oil and gas projects.

She said: “This is just fantasy from the OEUK, who are ignoring geology, history and also the very real climate crisis we have all just suffered.

“After 50 years of drilling, the North Sea is a declining, ultra-mature basin. The UK has burned most of its gas and what’s left is mostly oil, the vast majority of which is exported and sold on international markets.

“New drilling will do nothing to bring down bills and little for energy security. Without a rapid shift to the abundant renewable energy we have, and help to households to shift away from their reliance on fossil fuels, the UK will become ever more reliant on imported gas regardless of what the OEUK say.

“Meanwhile, the number of jobs supported by the oil and gas industry has more than halved over the past decade, despite hundreds of new licences and new field approvals.

“Oil and gas companies have made billions, but those profits have gone to executives and shareholders, not into creating new jobs and industries, like wind manufacturing. The vast majority of North Sea operators invest nothing in UK renewables – they simply want to maximise profits from oil and gas for as long as possible.

“The science is clear that the world already has far more oil and gas than can ever be safely burned if we are to limit warming.

“When it comes to these decisions, the Prime Minister needs listen to scientists warnings and think back to those families who lost their homes to this summer’s wildfires, the UK farmers struggling to grow our food in the drought, and the lives lost in the floods in Nepal – and not the self-interested demands of the oil companies or their proxies.

“The government should ignore the special pleading of a sector that has become very rich while households faced soaring energy bills and workers saw declining conditions and security.

“Instead, it should invest in industries with a future, like wind manufacturing, that can provide good jobs for generations of workers.”