Energy chiefs call for oil drilling to protect supplies – Daily Business

David Whitehouse: we urgently need greater supplies of energy

An energy group has urged the UK Government to resume drilling in the North Sea oil fields to protect businesses and households from conflicts in key supply zones.

In its annual review of the sector, Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) called on ministers to reverse the ban on new licences for the UK’s oil fields to reduce Britain’s exposure to volatile global markets.

“We urgently need greater supplies of secure, domestically produced energy including oil and gas, which will remain a critical part of the UK energy system and economy for decades,” said David Whitehouse, chief executive of OEUK. 

“As demand rises and electricity use accelerates, weakening domestic supply would only increase our reliance on imported LNG [liquid natural gas], leaving consumers more exposed to global volatility and higher emissions.”

OEUK’s intervention adds to other calls to open up oil and gas fields from within the energy industry, including Octopus founder Greg Jackson and Centrica chief executive Chris O’Shea.

The Conservative, Reform and the SNP are calling on the government to go further and scrap the energy profits levy.

Sir Keir Starmer told a committee of MPs yesterday that Chancellor Rachel Reeves will today update lawmakers on talks at the emergency Cobr meeting in Whitehall.

Ministers are concerned that some companies could exploit the crisis to carry out price gouging – when a company puts prices up to an unfair and unjustifiably high level during a crisis, knowing that customer have little choice but to pay.

To deal with this unfair practice, a new anti-profiteering framework is being brought in by the Government and regulators like the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to clamp down on price gouging if it takes place.

As part of that, the government will not hesitate to introduce new time-limited, targeted powers for the CMA and other key regulators if that is needed, and the exact powers are being worked through at pace.

The Chancellor is expected to highlight the increased importance in going further and faster to secure the next generation of nuclear power and to reclaim Britain’s place as a leading nuclear nation.

As part of £120 billion of public investment, construction is already starting at Sizewell C, contracts on the country’s first small modular reactors in North Wales are due to be signed, and the government is negotiating an extension to the operating life of Sizewell B.

Ms Reeves is also expected to announce that government-backed indemnities for critical energy security projects are being explored.

Currently, when planning consent for a major project is legally challenged, construction can be forced to stall – meaning vital infrastructure is held up by the courts even where consent has been granted.

The proposed indemnities would keep priority projects moving in those circumstances, protecting energy security and keeping the path to lower bills on track.

A government source said: “Britain needs a diverse energy mix to get off fossil fuels, bring down bills and give this country the energy security it deserves. We are getting on with delivering that.

“We inherited years of failure on nuclear and years of laws that played into the hands of the blockers. We are fixing both.

“Through £120 billion of public investment – including in Sizewell C and Britain’s first small modular reactors in North Wales – we are building the homegrown energy that will protect working people’s bills for generations to come.

“That is the right economic plan and one where we back the builders not the blockers.”

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