Biscathorpe planning and the UK's Low Carbon Economy.13 Mar 2021 13:22
Another key piece of the Biscathorpe planning application shows there is still a place for indigenous hydrocarbon extraction as an important part of UK’s energy mix towards a low carbon economy & the legally binding aim of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050:
'In their response to the 2020 Energy White Paper, UKOOG, the trade body for UK onshore oil and gas, highlighted
that using the CCC’s 'Balanced' and 'Headwinds' scenarios in the Sixth Carbon Budget , import dependencies will
rise by up to 40% for oil by 2050 when feedstock oil is included in the assessment (which was not included in the
CCC figures for consumption). This means the UK would spend between £136bn and £142bn on oil imports by
2050. This assumes an oil price of £50 per barrel. In terms of imported carbon emissions, failure to address this
large shortfall between supply and demand by increasing UK oil production would increase the global carbon
footprint of UK oil supply. Oil imports from the United states, as our second largest supplier have a carbon intensity
43% greater than that of UK production and Algerian crude (with Algeria being a top five oil supplier to the UK) has
a carbon intensity 157% higher than that of UK crude production.'