Page 10 - Euroil Week 32 2021

EurOil POLICY EurOil
UK opposition boss calls for “hard-edged” end to oil and gas exploration
UK
Labour leader Keir Starmer did not say when he thought exploration should end, however.
THE head of the UK’s main opposition party has said the country must have a “hard-edged time- table” for ceasing oil and gas exploration.
Addressing reporters in Glasgow on August 4, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the pol- icy would need to be implemented in a way that protected North Sea jobs. The UK oil industry employs over 30,000 workers directly and a fig- ure several times larger indirectly.
“We absolutely have to protect people’s jobs,” Starmer said. “We’ve got to try to create a timeta- ble for [the end of exploration]. It’s got to be sub- ject to consensus and agreement, and we have got to bring communities with us. Otherwise there’ll be a disconnect between the obligations that we’ve got to fulfil in order to deal with the climate crisis and the communities that are going to be most deeply affected.”
Starmer was seeking to distance Labour’s pol- icy from that of the current Conservative gov- ernment. Despite having announced a number of bold climate commitments ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in November, the government has said licensing rounds for oil and gas exploration acreage would continue, albeit with greater consideration being given to the environmental impact of offshore activities.
However, the opposition leader refused to say when exactly he believed that exploration should cease.
“We’ll have to sit down and agree but we’ve got to have a hard-edged timetable,” he said.
Starmer also said his party would oppose a plan by Royal Dutch Shell and private equi- ty-backed Siccar Point Energy to develop the Cambo oilfield. The Oil and Gas Authority is currently reviewing the pair’s application for the project, which could produce up to 255mn bar- rels of oil but also release an estimated 132mn tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere during its lifespan.
Shell CEO Ben van Beurden recently dis- missed concerns about Cambo’s environmental impact, noting that it was still better for the UK to produce the oil and gas it needs “in its own backyard” rather than relying on imports, which because of transportation can lead to greater emissions.
“To import oil and gas, which would be the alternative, would obviously not serve the cli- mate at all,” he told investors in a conference call in late July. “Symbolically, it’s not what people would like to hear. But symbolism won’t help us with climate change.”
Shell and Sicar had hoped to take a final investment decision (FID) on Cambo last year, but delayed the move because of the coronavi- rus (COVID-19) pandemic. Approval is now expected by the end of this year.
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross quickly jumped on Starmer’s comments, warning that an end to exploration would jeopardise jobs. He said it was evidence that Labour had “aban- doned” Aberdeen and the North East.
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 32 11•August•2021