Stay informed with free updates
Simply sign up to the UK energy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.
UK energy secretary Ed Miliband has defied growing pressure over his stance on the North Sea, after the Conservative opposition and key renewable industry figures argued that it is illogical to restrict domestic production of oil and gas.
Juergen Maier, chair of Britain’s state-owned clean energy company Great British Energy, joined those in favour of producing more North Sea oil and gas.
In a LinkedIn post, he said it “slows job losses” and “supports tax revenues”, and could also entail lower carbon emissions than imported fossil fuels. However, he added that more domestic drilling would not bring down energy prices, and later clarified that he supported government policy.
Greg Jackson, chief executive of the UK’s largest household energy supplier, Octopus Energy, has also backed increased North Sea production, saying that liquefied natural gas shipped from around the world was a “lot dirtier” than locally produced gas.
Tara Singh, the recently appointed chief executive of renewable energy industry lobby group RenewableUK, wrote in an editorial for the Daily Telegraph last week that Britain should produce more energy “of every kind” and it was time “to take energy out of the culture wars”.
The Labour government said last year it would allow developers to drill “tiebacks” to existing fields, but has yet to introduce legislation to do so.
A source at GB Energy said Maier supported this position, as “consistent with an All Energy approach to the transition,” adding “the end game is renewables and that we need to give supply chain companies enough time to transition”.
The Labour government easily won a Commons vote on Tuesday brought by the opposition Conservatives to try to end the ban on new drilling licences in the North Sea and approving two major oil and gasfields — Rosebank and Jackdaw.
Miliband gave a speech on Monday night to the Parliamentary Labour Party at its weekly meeting where he defended the government’s existing policy.
“Anyone who tells you that new licences in the North Sea will make any difference to price is not telling you the truth,” the energy secretary said, pointing out that oil and gas are both traded on international markets.
But Miliband was challenged by one backbench MP, Henry Tufnell, who has claimed that allowing more North Sea drilling would be a “boon for tax revenue” and boost Britain’s manufacturing sector.
Michael Shanks, an energy minister, argued on Tuesday that the North Sea basin had been in decline for the past 20 years, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that there was an “enormous opportunity for us in other technologies”.
Climate Capital
Where climate change meets business, markets and politics. Explore the FT’s coverage here.
Are you curious about the FT’s environmental sustainability commitments? Find out more about our science-based targets
