Tories rush to drill for more oil in North Sea30 Aug 2022 18:38
Makes the windfall tax look even more like the kneejerk, backward move it was, nonetheless I hope and expect Longboat to participate in the upcoming UK licensing round (as well as looking at other UK deals).
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https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/tories-rush-to-drill-for-more-oil-in-north-sea-mtstjhv0d
Liz Truss will give licences the green light
Liz Truss will approve a series of oil and gas drilling licences in the North Sea in one of her first acts as prime minister as part of a long-term plan to ensure Britain’s energy security.
Senior allies of the Tory leadership frontrunner have been putting together her response to the energy crisis, with average annual household bills due to rise to £3,549 from October.
Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, and Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Brexit opportunities minister, have been meeting oil and gas companies to negotiate a deal to secure energy supplies this winter. The pair have a two-pronged approach that involves securing more gas from Norway while maximising domestic production.
There is a scramble across Europe for dwindling supplies. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said yesterday that the bloc was preparing to reform the continent’s electricity market.
Kwarteng, who is likely to be made chancellor if Truss becomes prime minister, has led the drive over the past year to increase North Sea drilling. Rees-Mogg is being tipped for the position of business secretary after he was entrusted with helping to develop Truss’s policy on energy. Rees-Mogg held another meeting yesterday with senior executives at Total and Shell.
The North Sea still contains gas and oil equivalent to about 15 billion barrels, according to the latest estimates from Offshore Energies UK, based on figures from the North Sea Transition Authority. Britain’s total energy consumption equates to about a billion barrels of oil a year.
Truss has faced criticism for delaying her announcement on energy until after the leadership election. “Rest assured there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes,” one ally said.
If she wins, as expected, Truss will invite applications for drilling licences to explore new fields, The Times understands. As many as 130 licences will be issued, insiders believe. The last time the government began a licensing round was in 2019, which resulted in the award of 113 licences.
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