Sunak commits to future North Sea licensing – but in addition backs carbon seize
R
ishi Sunak has backed future oil and fuel growth within the North Sea but in addition introduced two additional carbon seize and storage tasks would go forward as a part of the drive for web zero.
The Government has now dedicated to offering as much as £20 billion of funding for early deployment of carbon seize, utilisation and storage (CCUS), with the Acorn challenge in Scotland’s north east now receiving assist, together with the Viking challenge within the Humber.
They turn out to be the third and fourth such tasks to be backed by the UK Government, with the announcement coming as Mr Sunak dedicated to future oil and fuel licensing rounds for the North Sea.
The Government, along with the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) pressured future licensing would proceed to be topic to a local weather compatibility take a look at.
But environmental protesters, together with Greta Thunberg, are already insisting that permission shouldn’t be given to develop the Rosebank oil and fuel discipline to the west of Shetland.
Mr Sunak nevertheless insisted that having new licensing rounds was “absolutely the right thing to do”.
The Prime Minister informed BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “Even when we reach net zero in 2050 a quarter of our energy needs will still come from oil and gas, and domestic has production has about a quarter of a third of the carbon footprint of imported gas.
“So not only is it better on our energy security not to rely on foreign dictators for that energy, not only is it good for jobs, particularly Scottish jobs, it is actually better for the environment because there is no point in importing stuff from half way around the world with two to three times the carbon footprint of the stuff we’ve got at home, that makes absolutely no sense.”
The Prime Minister, who’s visiting Aberdeenshire on Monday, insisted: “This is about is strengthening our energy security for the whole of the United Kingdom.
“We’ve seen over the last year the impact of (Vladimir) Putin’s war, we don’t want to be in hock to dictators like that when it comes to our energy and an important part of guarding against that is investing in our North Sea.
“And that’s what today’s announcement is about, making sure that we have future oil and gas licensing rounds.”
He added it was “important that we get energy from here at home”, stressing that the sector helps 200,000 jobs.
With the additional funding in CCUS together with the Acorn challenge, he added: “That’s going to be great for Scottish jobs and help us transition to net zero.”
The Prime Minister travelled to Scotland by airplane, with Mr Sunak defending flying as being the “most efficient use of my time”.
He added: “Every prime minister before me has also used planes to travel around the United Kingdom because it’s an efficient use of time for the person running the country so we can keep focusing on delivery for people.”
SNP Westminster chief Stephen Flynn, in the meantime, stated assist for Acorn was “excellent news for the north-east of Scotland”.
Mr Flynn, the MP for Aberdeen South, informed BBC Radio Scotland: “I think in anything that comes from the UK Government the devil will very much be in the detail, but I don’t think anyone can step away from the fact that this is a positive step in the right direction after 18 years of dither and delay.
“I guess the key thing now is making sure… that the UK Government back up this announcement today with real progress in terms of timing and the evaluation process.”
The announcement comes because the NSTA is presently assessing the 115 bids acquired for licences within the thirty third oil and fuel licensing spherical, with a view to awarding licences later within the yr.
Hedvig Ljungerud, NSTA director of technique, highlighted the “benefits of continuing to produce our own gas, as cleanly as possible, for as long as we consume it, to support domestic energy security and the drive to net zero”.