Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch will pledge to make North Sea oil a “cornerstone” of the UK economy amid concerns producers have “much more to do” to reduce carbon emissions in the coming decades.
In a speech to the Society of Petroleum Engineers Offshore Europe conference in Scotland, Badenoch will tell industry officials that she would like to see as much oil and gas extracted from the area as possible.
Badenoch will blame the Labour government for failing to make the most of oil and gas fields’ potential, though her recent comments on energy policy have represented a big departure from previous Conservative governments who pushed for net zero and taxing energy giants’ profits.
The Conservative leader will also say she will put an end to a ban on oil and gas licences and allow the UK government to promote the energy sector through its finance and trade networks.
“Labour sees the North Sea as a relic of the past; we see it as a cornerstone of Britain’s future,” she will tell officials.
“By restoring common sense to energy policy, we will unlock billions in revenue, secure our supply, and rebuild confidence in the UK economy.”
She will accuse Reform UK of pushing for the “part-nationalisation” of the energy sector, which would bring the UK “back to the bad old days of the 1970s when the government controlled British industries, running them into the ground”.
Badenoch’s radical push for oil extraction
Her speech will unveil a wider strategy to defend UK energy companies and end policies which hamper the sector’s growth.
Badenoch said earlier this year achieving net zero by 2050 would be “impossible”.
The Labour government is considering opening the North Sea to oil drilling as energy secretary Ed Miliband changed rules that could see Equinor’s Rosebank oil field and Shell’s Jackdaw gas field projects go ahead. Officials are weighing up the benefits against pledges to turn Britain into a “clean energy super power”.
Reform UK have meanwhile pledged to end net zero commitments and all related subsidies for the sector.
Badenoch’s comments will come as the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) warned top businesses they will have to make “serious investments” to reduce emissions by 90 per cent in the next 15 years.
Its report showed that emissions have fallen for five years in a row, representing a decrease by over a third between 2018 and 2024.
“Bringing down production emissions by more than a third in six years shows the North Sea oil and gas industry has been getting a lot right, reflecting its commitment.,” NTSA director of strategy Hedvig Ljungerud said.
“If operators lose focus on the task at hand, the projections are clear that UK production will become less clean and less competitive compared with imports over time.”
Badenoch is pledging to rename the NTSA to the North Sea Authority and mandate it to “maximise the extraction” of oil and gas.
David Whitehouse, the boss of the industry body Offshore Energies UK, said bosses took the wider sector’s commitments to reduce carbon emissions by a half by 2030 seriously.
“[Commitments] are an important part of demonstrating that the sector is part of our future energy mix.”
By City AM
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