Member Info for Modestus1

I think we can safely assume Labour unfortunately won't ditch the EPL after the Green's by-election victory. Labour will probably move even more to the left.

Head of the Society of Chemical Industry says high prices are a ‘national act of self-harm’ and calls for an independent review of net-zero strategy

https://archive.md/7H4xL

Today before PMQuestions on energy bills and green energy. Discussion with Lord Mackinlay representing our interests. The Labour MP in the panel regurgitated Miliband's mantras. Romaron, you can watch on i player, i suppose.

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“We now face a situation that UK Government decisions are driving an accelerated decline in North Sea oil and gas and opening up a gap with the renewables industry,” Martin wrote.

“This is a gap into which jobs and livelihoods are being lost.

“We also have the longstanding concern that the UK Government is failing to treat the offshore energy sector, located primarily in the North East of Scotland, fairly in terms of taxation alongside other parts of the UK economy.”

Martin said removing the EPL would “send a strong and positive signal to the wider energy industry”, as well as to communities and workforces in Scotland.

UK government discussing early end to North Sea windfall tax

Treasury officials and North Sea operators engaged in meetings over the energy profits levy (EPL).

https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/north-sea/592983/uk-government-discussing-early-end-to-north-sea-windfall-tax/

The UK government is in active discussions with North Sea operators over the possible early end to the energy profits levy (EPL) windfall tax, an industry source has told Energy Voice.Treasury officials have engaged in multiple meetings in recent weeks with the industry regarding an end to the windfall tax, which sets the headline rate of tax on North Sea oil and gas firms at 78%.

With the North Sea energy transition a key issue in the upcoming Scottish elections in May, the source told Energy Voice that the Treasury has initiated meetings with the offshore industry ahead of the Spring Statement next week.

Introduced in 2022 by the former Conservative government following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Labour government raised the EPL rate and extended it until 2030. However, the levy will end sooner if oil and gas prices fall below thresholds set by the energy security investment mechanism (ESIM).

The ESIM thresholds for the financial year to the end of March 2027 are set at $78.65 per barrel of oil, and £0.61 per therm of natural gas.

But the Labour government has faced pressure from both the oil and gas and Scottish renewables sector to end the tax over concerns it is impacting investment in the North Sea and the north-east of Scotland.

The EPL has also faced pushback from Scottish politicians, including the SNP and Scottish Conservatives.

While the UK government is not expected to remove the EPL this year, the industry is hoping a new price mechanism designed to replace it may come into effect earlier than 2030.

A UK government spokesperson declined to confirm the discussions between Treasury officials and industry representatives.

“We’re giving the sector and its investors the long-term certainty to plan, invest and support jobs with plans to replace the Energy Profits Levy when it ends by 2030, or earlier if its price floor is triggered,” the spokesperson told Energy Voice.

“We are also making sure the North Sea has a prosperous and sustainable future through record investment that helps deliver the next generation of skilled jobs while growing the clean energy industries of the future.”

Chancellor Rachel Reeves will present the Spring Statement from Westminster on Tuesday 3 March.

Ahead of the Spring Statement, the Scottish government has called for an “immediate end” to the EPL, warning of the “risk it poses to Scotland’s just energy transition”.

In a letter to Chancellor Rachel Reeves and UK energy secretary Ed Miliband, Scottish energy secretary Gillian Martin said the impacts of the EPL are “being felt acutely in the North East of Scotland”.

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“Building shareholder value remains at the heart of our capital allocation decisions, and we will provide an update on the group’s shareholder return plans when we announce final audited results in March.”

The North Sea operator expects calmer seas this year as it presses ahead with plans for Magnus and Bressay.

https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/592734/enquest-we-will-pay-less-tax-in-2026/

North Sea operator EnQuest said it expects to pay “significantly less cash tax during 2026” as it set out plans for 2026.

The firm said as a “taxpayer in arrears” it will be able to reduce its tax burden despite the UK maintaining its wind fall tax, the energy profits levy (EPL), until 2030 despite industry opposition to the scheme.

An operations update from the company last year said that it will make a payment of around $100 million under the EPL in June 2025.

In an update operations for 2025 and guidance in 2026, EnQuest said it has struck a “credit-enhancing settlement” on its Magnus oil and gas production hub which means it is now planning to drill six new wells across 2026-2027.

In a statement EnQest hailed the field’s “significant potential” as well as its plans for its Bressay and Kraken oil and gas projects are at an “advanced stage” including importing gas.

Group production averaged 45,606 Boepd above the top end of guidance despite severe weather at the start of the year.

The firm noted that Canadian Natural Resources International’s (CNRI) Ninian Central Platform had been struck by a “once-in-a-decade wave” causing an unplanned outage for all system users, including Magnus, in mid-January. It added that Magnus production was reinstated in the early hours of 22 February following remedial works.

CEO Amjad Bseisu said: “The group delivered another impressive year of operational performance in 2025, with asset uptime of c.90%, production above the top end of our guidance range at 45.6 Kboed, and strong cost management.

“We also grew our operations by expanding our South East Asia footprint, acquiring and integrating our new Vietnam business, delivering first gas from our Seligi 1b project (Malaysia) nine months ahead of schedule, and entering Brunei and Indonesia.

“2026 has begun with extreme weather in the UK North Sea, which impacted our operations in January and February. Having successfully navigated similar third-party infrastructure outages last year, we remain confident in our ability to deliver top-quartile operating performance for the balance of the year and maintain stable year-on-year production.

“Delivering value-led growth remains our strategic imperative and, by refinancing our RBL in 2025, we have expanded our cash and available funds by c.$200 million, to c.$675 million. Importantly, we have also agreed on a settlement for the Magnus contingent consideration mechanism. This credit-enhancing transaction secures for EnQuest full economic exposure to Magnus, simplifies the group’s balance sheet and demonstrates our long-term commitment to this core asset. These steps strengthen our foundation for growth, enhancing group liquidity as we work to deliver transformative transactions in the UK North Sea and South East Asia.

Former Nato chief says scrapping fossil fuels too quickly could lead to cyber hacks from Moscow

Labour’s “hellbent” desire to hit net zero risks leaving Britain’s energy industry vulnerable to Russian attack, a former Nato chief has warned.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/02/21/milibands-net-zero-britain-risk-russia-cyber-hacks/

Gen Sir Richard Sherriff, Nato’s former deputy supreme allied commander Europe, said the clean power push by Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, risked crippling the UK.

The defence chief said ramping up the pace at which the nation was scrapping fossil fuel use was a mistake and could harm the country’s overall energy resilience, exposing it to sabotage and cyber hacks by Moscow.

“We’re sleepwalking not only into an energy crisis but a war crisis,” Gen Sir Richard said, adding he feared Britain could be targeted by Russian “grey zone”-style attacks.

“The hellbent ‘go-green’ agenda from the likes of Ed Miliband is undermining our ability to withstand energy shock. It’s about building redundancy.”

Mr Miliband aims for Britain to hit its net zero target by 2050. But he has set a bold ambition to decarbonise the nation’s power network by 2030.

Gen Sir Richard, who served in the Army for 37 years, said the UK had to be “pragmatic” about its energy use and that fossil fuels will still need to be used, alongside the creation and expansion of green energy, for decades to come.

“Absolutely go for green but don’t cut off your nose to spite your face when we have oil fields in the North Sea. It’s crazy to do that. No advanced economy can live on pure sustainable energy. It needs nuclear and gas but for some time to come it’s going to need fossil fuels too,” the retired commander added.

“It’s like climbing a precipice and only having one hand and one point of contact. It’s madness.”

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A plan to sort out the queue of projects waiting to connect to the electricity grid has gone badly wrong, jeopardising net zero and data centre goals

https://archive.md/98lv1#selection-1589.0-1589.149

The trade body is pushing the UK government to utilise the country’s domestic oil and gas assets.

https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/592652/oeuk-uk-gas-reserves-double/

A new analysis from Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) has found that the UK’s untapped gas reserves are double government estimates.

In a response to a UK government consultation on how to manage the future of the UK’s gas sector, OEUK said recoverable gas reserves amount to 456bcm.

Not only is this more than double the NSTA’s production projection of 226 bcm between 2025-2050, it is more than six times the UK’s annual requirement.

However, OEUK noted that these reserves can only be unlocked by attracting new investment with practical reform of taxes and regulations.

OEUK policy director and lead author of the submission Enrique Cornejo said: “The decline of the UK’s domestic gas supply is being driven by policy not geology. For as long as the nation requires gas, it’s in the national interest to produce as much of that gas as possible at home, where it delivers lower lifecycle emissions, greater energy and industrial security and higher economic value than imported alternatives.

“The health of the UK’s energy security, economy and critical supply chains depends on maintaining robust domestic oil and gas production at the heart of a modern industrial economy.”

OEUK’s response draws on data provided by its members that has also been submitted to government, detailing 111 named projects equivalent to £50bn of investment that could be unlocked with such reform.

In addition, OEUK’s response repeated its calls to bring forward reform to the Energy Profits Levy. The 78% tax rate is due to stay in place until 2030.

The trade body also said there must be a presumption in favour of homegrown energy, which includes oil and gas and that the UK must maintain and utilise its critical oil and gas infrastructure to prevent the permanent loss of Britain’s industrial capacity.

“This is one of the most important energy consultation exercises of recent years,” Cornejo added. “It’s a critical opportunity to signal the UK is open for investment, safeguard energy security and back industries and jobs across the nation.

“Our submission makes clear that the most secure, reliable and lower emission source of gas for the UK is its own domestic production.”

Oliver Wright, Policy editor and Emily Gosden, Energy editor

Sorry, i messed up with the copy and paste :

Here is the full article : https://archive.md/et3sM#selection-1797.0-1801.209

The energy secretary has been warned he will have to impose power cuts if the grid is to be upgraded to meet the ‘challenge’ of clean power by 2030

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/ed-miliband-blackouts-electricity-power-outage-grxxr3nhh

Ed Miliband has been warned he will have to “choose between” imposing power blackouts or missing his target to hit net-zero electricity supplies by 2030.

Industry figures say there is now such a backlog of routine maintenance on the electricity network that it will be impossible to maintain the grid’s resilience while also upgrading it to handle new wind and solar farms. It comes as a report by Ofgem, the energy regulator, found there were “significant challenges” in meeting the government’s clean power target while at the same time “sustaining world-class reliability”.

The regulator has identified serious “delivery delays” in planned system maintenance and upgrades by the companies that operate Britain’s high-voltage power cables — National Grid, ScottishPower and SSE.

Energy experts said that the backlog meant that ministers would have no choice but to impose temporary power cuts in certain parts of the country to do all of the works. The Department for Energy denied this and described the claims as “scaremongering”.

One figure involved in the discussions said: “Over the next few years the number of projects will go up but the system access limit is at its max. So Ofgem and the energy department will need to choose between asset replacements or clean power. Everyone knows this.”

Another source said: “We are on an inexorable path to blackouts.”

In its report, Ofgem said that the “delivery landscape had grown increasingly complex, creating significant challenges in meeting Clean Power 2030 ambitions while sustaining world-class reliability”.

“We remain concerned over the lower-than-anticipated levels of asset intervention across all networks, and the potential this has for heightened asset deterioration and the risk of reduced system resilience,” it warned.

“We are also cautious about the level of confidence that can be placed in company forecasts projecting increases in intervention volumes, given the historic trend of under-delivery to date.”

In a letter to the energy industry, published last week, Ofgem said that 210 of the 340 green energy projects that were scheduled to connect to the grid this year and next year are expected to miss the target.

All three are running behind target for the work they were supposed to carry out on “asset health” of the grid over the past five years to March this year, to ensure Britain’s electricity supplies remain reliable.

Ofgem is concerned that the delays to previous maintenance work will have a knock-on effect on the upgrades needed to make Britain ready for clean power 2030. This involves linking up new wind and solar farms to the grid and upgrading cables so that the power can get where it is needed.

‘Dynamic alignment’ of UK law with EU rules on promotion of renewable energy will require country to decarbonise rapidly

https://archive.md/LcGbn

The Government is willing to sacrifice jobs and growth for green virtue-signalling

https://archive.md/IrroO

Https://archive.md/1mFRJ

https://archive.md/hkmJ3

https://archive.md/ryYM9

https://archive.md/gKj8J

https://archive.md/yFeUl

I simply cannot fathom how the Brittish people keep it taking on the chin when the media is relentlessly attacking Miliband's energy policy.

Or Sekforde coming back after selling his ENQ-position at the absolute bottom to rotate into HBR. We needn't to be feeling smug though. Even after today's Repairer-spike (seems like ages ago we could use that term) you would be hardpressed to find oil stocks in other countries that have done so bad as ours when it comes to share price development.

Watch the video extract in the article : https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/north-sea/592194/miliband-uk-north-sea-offshore-oil-gas-wind-energy-wages/

"UK electricity will cost more in 2030 than after invasion of Ukraine, warns Centrica"

https://www.ft.com/content/c6bd1db4-3bd5-4471-99d2-bf57b15a96e8

So it 's not the whims of petrostates and dictators we need to be protected from?

Frac, any news about Sarwar in Scotland/Scottish press after he had asked Starmer to go yesterday? In DT-article from yesterday "Mr Sarwar has been infuriated by Sir Keir’s own determination to stick to his net zero plans and run down oil and gas production in the North Sea."