The latest Investing Matters Podcast episode featuring Jeremy Skillington, CEO of Poolbeg Pharma has just been released. Listen here.
"We are determined to ensure lower energy bills, good, skilled jobs, energy security and a fair and just transition for all who have invested so much in our energy industries."
I am sure AB will be jumping for joy!
The sarcasm : "Of course, dialogue with oil and gas workers and businesses matters, which is why Keir Starmer, Anas Sarwar and I visited Aberdeen last November and we will continue to engage. In response to the sector’s concerns, for example, Rachel Reeves has made clear that North Sea operators should only pay windfall rates of tax while prices are historically high."
Https://www.ft.com/content/5fb5991e-e430-4832-9d1b-5b577aa4ee59
Some people must be very very desperate to post the POFCY-value as a title on this board. I repeat it : the US-ticker has no value, none whatsoever, for the London listed PFC-shares as there is no liquidity on the US Market. Volume for the +10.5%-movement is 15 000 shares. Good luck with that if you base your investment decisions on that!
Keir Starmer in his messaging about the North Sea oil sector is about as clear as the difference between the People's Front of Judea, theJudean People's Front and the Judean Popular People's Front..... :
The Labour leader insists an increased levy on MULTINATIONAL companies reaping in huge profits can bring in an extra £10 billion to the treasury. Scottish party chief Anas Sarwar justified the policy by pointing to those huge gains being made by energy giants during the cost-of-living crisis. So what about the UK E&P's?
The Labour leader told party members gathered in Glasgow that work in the North Sea would continue “for decades”. He said: “I went to Aberdeen recently. Met the workers who maintain the pipelines. 100 miles long – stretching all the way back to the oil and gas fields. “So I’ve said before – and I say again – that work will continue for decades to come."
So the work will continue for decades only for the pipelines that will be used for CCS, or only for the oil due to the drilling of the old fields , but no drilling of new oil fields?
A MESS IT IS....
They keep repeating the "huge profits reaped by ENERGY GIANTS"? How much energy companies did they subsidize when they had years of losses? How many went under? How many billions were invested by independent E&P's in the North Sea, giving full employment to thousands of workers who fill the coffers of the Treasury by paying taxes whereas the shareholders have been holding the bag for years? This populism is sickening!
“The only thing for certain was that Anas Sarwar doubled down on the fact that his party will decimate our energy industry and leave thousands of workers behind.”
The Scottish Tories claimed Mr Sarwar’s pitch on improving the economy was undermined by his party’s stance toward oil and gas.
Tory MSP Craig Hoy said: “Keir Starmer’s economically illiterate policy – the same as the SNP’s – has prompted a huge and justified backlash from business groups.”
anas sarwar comes out swinging in favour of labour’s windfall tax plans
the scottish labour leader insisted in his conference speech that the move is vital due to energy firms making huge profits as he strongly criticised the snp.
anas sarwar has defended labour’s controversial north sea windfall tax by insisting huge profits are being reaped by energy giants.
in his keynote speech to scottish labour conference, the party leader came out swinging in defence of the strategy less than 24 hours after aberdeen business chiefs wrote to sir keir starmer demanding a u-turn.
mr sarwar also used his hour-long speech in glasgow to take aim at the snp, who strongly criticised labour’s proposals to increase taxes on the oil and gas sector.
sir keir recently announced he intends to up the windfall levy on fossil fuels firms from 75% to 78%, extending it until at least 2029.
that move came not long after labour also abandoned a pledge to spend £28 billion each year on new green energy projects.
more than 700 voices across the north-east, including tycoon sir ian wood, wrote to sir keir in “anger and frustration” this week.
but speaking to labour members at conference, mr sarwar pointed out british gas has seen a huge increase in its profits.
he told the audience: “the energy giants recorded profits of £33 billion last year. that’s why labour will introduce a windfall tax to tackle the cost-of-living crisis.”
snp westminster leader stephen ***** claimed earlier this week that labour’s proposals would “destroy livelihoods” in the north-east by damaging the economy.
that’s despite his party strongly backing the introduction of the windfall tax and opposing new drilling projects in the north sea, such as cambo.
sarwar attacks snp
mr sarwar said: “just yesterday, the same day that the energy giant announced a ten-fold increase in their profits, the snp now oppose labour’s plans for a windfall tax.
“the snp now believe if you earn £28,500 you should pay more tax. but if you’re an energy giant earning billions in profit, you should pay less tax.
“they can no longer pretend they’re on the side of working people in scotland.”
but in a bid to soothe the fears of industry leaders, mr sarwar insisted oil and gas will continue to play a key role in producing scotland’s energy for decades to come.
he used his conference speech to argue a government led by sir keir will bring down energy bills, upgrade infrastructure, and create more jobs.
‘no vision’
snp msp rona mackay said: “yet again anas sarwar has stood up and delivered no vision, no plan and no policies to the people of scotland.
“instead we were treated to more slogans, more catchphrases and nothing of substance.
Labour’s shadow secretary Ian Murray said: “Labour’s plans will ensure oil and gas giants making eye-watering profits from the cost of living crisis pay their fair share towards the delivery of cleaner and cheaper energy."
Fortunately the other voices gain strength too : https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/547962/aberdeen-business-leaders-write-to-keir-starmer-warning-against-oil-and-gas-windfall-tax-plans/
If politics weren't only so important to ENQ....
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-02-15/uk-by-elections-labour-is-making-a-mess-of-its-chance-to-govern
@Tommo 1985 : In the Telegraph, this is different : However, the back-stabbing stars of the hit television series have nothing on Labour, WHO ARE HEADING FOR GLASGOW FOR THEIR SCOTTISH CONFERENCE ON FRIDAY having just delivered one of the biggest betrayals in Britain’s industrial history.
Let 's hope they will be challenged by oil workers.
@Romaron : This kind of articles in the broad press or a speaker on TV explaining the NS oil industry's side is what we definitely need more than anything else, Romaron.
Essential is to make clear who the NS oil companies are, the fact Labour have blinded people by presenting us as oil giants raking in billions of cash for their shareholders by profiteering from the Ukraine war whereas most independents have had a very hard time barely surviving after years of low oil prices. Where is the windfall with oil trading at actual levels? Why are we taxed to the tilt when technology and banks are taxed a fraction? There is no possible comparison between Norway and UK unless the number 78%....Time to fight back!
UK could lose £40bn between now and 2030
When we welcomed Sir Keir Starmer and Ed Miliband to Aberdeen in November, they looked us in the eye and told us they wanted to work with the energy industry to deliver a transition that leaves nobody behind.
They say they want to work in partnership with industry. But, just like last summer, when they sprung plans for an exploration ban, this windfall tax extension has been done with zero engagement.
Right now, Labour’s energy policy is an absolute disaster, and the party needs to sit down with industry and rewrite it from scratch if we are to retain any hope of remaining a global energy hub. As things stand, the UK is set to lose out on £40 billion worth of investment between now and 2030.
Going forward, the party’s policies must also reflect three key points: we need oil and gas, we need the people who produce it, and we need the companies who finance it.
Oil and gas will still be 20% of our energy mix in 2050 and a net-zero scenario. And we need new fields to offset decline, otherwise we will lose 75% of our production inside a decade, leaving us reliant on more energy imports from abroad, as well as potential energy shortages.
Labour has to prove it can be trusted
This is also about people – if you wind down the North Sea too quickly, before jobs and opportunities are available at scale in the renewables sector, then you lose the world-class workforce and supply chain. That would make what is already an enormous challenge even harder, perhaps impossible. We cannot allow it to happen.
And, finally, you need energy companies to have faith in order to invest in the long-term future of the UK. That means working in lockstep with many of the firms currently producing oil and gas, because they are the ones which will lay out the huge sums required to commercialise new technologies.
If Labour wants to win power, the party needs to prove to industry – and the public – that it can be trusted with our energy transition. The early signs are not good, and if we get this wrong, the economic and social damage will be enormous.
Ahead of the 1992 general election, there was a famous front-page headline which urged the last person to leave Britain to “please turn out the lights” if Labour won the election.
This time around, the lights may go out by themselves.
Ryan Crighton: Labour’s unforgivable betrayal puts 100,000 energy jobs on the line
If Labour wants to win power, the party needs to prove to industry and the public that it can be trusted with our energy transition. The Labour Party appears to have stabbed Scotland's energy sector in the back, à la popular reality TV programme, The Traitors
However, the back-stabbing stars of the hit television series have nothing on the Labour Party, which, just months after heading north to promise “no cliff-edge end” to the North Sea oil and gas sector, has delivered one of the biggest betrayals in Britain’s industrial history.
The party’s “proper” windfall tax – which will result in energy firms being levied at 78% for another five years – will wipe out 100,000 jobs, according to analysts, and cost the Treasury £20 billion in lost revenue.
To put the devastating job toll in context, it was the axing of 20,000 jobs which sparked the miners’ strikes in 1984 and 1985. This one policy will potentially wipe out five times as many.
Even for a political party known to indulge in a bit of pre-election self-flagellation, this really takes the shortbread biscuit. Labour – the party of workers and unions – is happy to cast tens of thousands of hard-working men and women on the scrapheap, and place a world class Scottish industry on death row.
It does not matter what your political persuasion is: a policy which costs 100,000 jobs is a bad one.
Energy policy has become shambolic
The fact that opposition parties cannot make political capital out of such a ruinous strategy highlights just how shambolic energy policy has become on these isles.
The SNP of old would be standing up for the tens of thousands of Scots now facing an uncertain future. The prospect of a Westminster government shutting down Scotland’s biggest industry would be election manna from heaven.
However, hamstrung by the SNP’s ill-conceived presumption against oil and gas, and politically neutered by the Greens, Humza Yousaf has no moral high ground to occupy on this issue.
Neither do the Conservatives, who implemented the windfall tax in the first place, and have since ignored multiple pleas to remove it, despite energy prices normalising over a year ago.
Based on the above, you can understand why the forthcoming general election has paralysed investment in the North Sea. But that paused investment will become lost investment if Labour wins on this policy platform.
And not only in Energyvoice. "The industry is not an “infinite source of revenue” for the exchequer, and there will be consequences on investment, jobs, and energy security if the Labour windfall tax plans come into action."
"Labour said hiking the rate to 78% would align with Norway – but firms would actually be worse off than the UK’s North Sea neighbours. Average costs – capex and opex – in the UK is $30 per barrel, double that of Norway at $15, according to Stifel. “Your return on investments is a lot lower than Norway, and that’s what makes the UK suddenly uncompetitive against other parts of the world”
https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/north-sea/547815/labour-windfall-tax-north-sea-2024/
“No doubt this makes for concerning reading, and a bit of leap that some assume funding, historically directed to O&G [oil and gas] projects, will automatically be used to invest in green energies…in/off the UK.”
https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/547628/clueless-readers-react-to-labour-windfall-tax-plans/