North Sea decline leaves Britain 'dependent on foreign regimes', Energy Secretary says

Claire Coutinho has criticized Labour's plan to stop new drilling in the North Sea. Photo: OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images

Britain will become “dependent on foreign regimes” if it allows the North Sea to shrink further, the energy secretary has warned.

Claire Coutinho has expressed concern that oil production and UK gas production will halve by 2030 without increased drilling. in the North Sea, leaving the country increasingly dependent on expensive imports.

Speaking at the annual conference of Energy UK, the industry's leading trade body, Ms Coutinho criticized Labour's proposals to halt new oil and gas exploration in the North Sea. .

She said: “Business needs certainty. But a policy that can't gain public support won't give you any confidence. We saw this in Europe.

“Closing our domestic oil and gas industry, making us dependent on foreign regimes and destroying the same communities, workers and skills that clean energy will require, does not give you confidence.”

Ms. Comments Coutinho follows new data from the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) which showed UK oil and gas production will roughly halve by the end of the decade unless new wells are drilled. .

Such a decline would mean that the UK would have to import up to 80 per cent of its oil and gas by 2030.

NSTA data shows that the number of oil and gas wells in the UK fell by 83 in 2022. There are only 1,629 of them in the country, compared to 2,052 in 2019.

Another 938 potentially productive wells have been mothballed as UK oil production fell to a record low. in 2022 will be 38 million tons.

The Labor Party has confirmed it will block all new domestic oil and gas development if it wins the next election, proposing instead to invest heavily in renewable energy sources such as wind and nuclear power.

Ed Miliband, The shadow energy secretary, speaking at the same conference as Ms Coutinho, said the UK should move away from oil and gas.

“We simply disagree with the argument that a choice must be made between tackling the cost of living crisis on the one hand and tackling the climate crisis on the other. We must do both.

“It is our dependence on fossil fuels that makes us more insecure and subject to higher bills for families and businesses.

However, reducing UK energy demand will take years, with 32 million petrol and diesel cars fueled by oil and gas in the UK. and heat an estimated 25 million homes.

The world's continued dependence on fossil fuels became evident on Wednesday when Shell signed an agreement with Qatar to supply gas to the Netherlands beyond Europe's net-zero deadline of 2050.< /p>

Subsidiaries of the state-owned company QatarEnergy and Shell have signed two contracts for the supply of up to 3.5 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for a period of 27 years.

The agreements will begin in 2026, then Shell has already committed to supply fossil fuels for three years after the Netherlands' deadline to achieve net zero.

Shell CEO Wael Sawan and Qatari Energy Minister Saad Sherida Al Kaabi signed a gas agreement with the Netherlands in Doha

Mr Al Kaabi said: “These agreements reaffirm Qatar's commitment to helping meet Europe's energy needs and strengthen its energy security.”