Ramping up North Sea oil & gas ‘won’t cut fuel bills’ – Daily Business

Juergen Maier: ‘confusing debate’

Energy prices will not fall by producing more oil and gas from the North Sea, according to transition leader Juergen Maier.

The chair of investment vehicle GB Energy has stated previously that he supports an “all-energy” approach to transition.

This means continued production in the North Sea to retain skills and jobs, and supply industries reliant on oil and gas.

But referring in a social media post on what he calls a “confusing debate”, he says ramping up production will not bring down energy prices, as claimed by Reform UK and the Conservative Party.

“I am a supporter of this being an all energy and managed energy transition, with the end game being mostly renewable energy generation,” he says.

He states that the arguments in favour of supporting more North Sea oil production include slowing down job losses in oil & gas industries, which would help transition skilled jobs to roles in the renewable energy sector, and to maintain supplies to oil-dependent industries such as plastics and chemicals.

“I, however, reject the argument that more oil and gas from the north sea brings down energy costs. It doesn’t. Indeed, energy costs are rising at this very moment because of fossil fuels.”

Iran war has affected the price of oil and gas

The conflict in the Gulf has exposed the west’s reliance on fossil fuels. The price of gas rose sharply today following the attack on Qatar’s Ras Laffan complex. In early trading it was up more than 25% on wholesale markets in the UK and Europe, before easing back slightly.

The price of gas in Europe is more than double the level seen before the conflict began. Brent Crude this morning was trading at $114.

Energy expert Simon Clark said granting more North Sea licences to oil & gas companies won’t make energy more affordable or secure as they sell to the international market at international market prices.

“There is no obligation or incentive for those companies to sell to the UK, let alone at a cheaper price,” he says. “That would require regulation of those companies.

“The only way increased production from the North Sea would impact the international price oil & gas is if they produced so much oil & gas it brought the price down.

“But there is not enough oil & gas left in the North Sea to do that. It represents 0.7% of global oil & gas production and that share is decreasing because the North Sea is pretty much spent.

“The emergency worldwide release of 400 million barrels barely brought the price of oil down below $100 a barrel.

“A few tens of thousands of barrels a year isn’t going to move the needle, would also take years go get up and running. It isn’t going to affect our fuel prices any time soon.

“It would only make sense if there was no alternative. But there is: homegrown renewable energy, whose price isn’t affected by wars and can be built in a year or two.”

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