United Kingdom – In exchange for a new round of oil and gas leasing, UK Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Kwasi Kwarteng has written to North Sea oil and gas companies, urging them to reinvest profits in clean energy.
Kwarteng is urging the oil and gas industry to develop a clear plan for reinvesting profits in the North Sea and future clean energy technologies. Companies must devise a strategy for reinvesting profits, double down on clean energy investments, and increase and maximize domestic oil and gas production.
Growing British economy
“Domestic production is now more important than ever, recognising that there will be an ongoing demand for oil and gas over the coming decades as we smooth the transition to cheap, clean, home-grown energy. That is why we took steps to remove obstacles to accelerate production and confirmed that the NSTA plans to launch another North Sea licensing round in the autumn, taking into account the forthcoming climate compatibility checkpoint and the need for domestic energy security. I want to also be clear that we will not bend to the will of activists who naively want us to extinguish production in the UK Continental Shelf – doing so would put energy security and British jobs at risk, and simply increases foreign imports, whilst not reducing demand.
“Scaling up, accelerating and investing in home-grown energy production will support us in continuing to grow the British economy, create good jobs across the country, and crucially bring down consumer bills in the long-term,” Kwarteng stated in the letter.
