The United Kingdom grants licenses to explore for oil and gas in the North Sea. Environmental organizations say it is a “catastrophic failure”. An intermediate step toward a “green revolution,” says the Johnson administration.
British government by Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson Announced on Wednesday Granting new licenses to extract oil and gas in the North Sea, especially off the coast of northern England and Scotland. This would secure about 40,000 jobs in this sector, as well as financial revenues and the country’s energy needs.
The UK is mocking itself in the run-up to the United Nations climate conference.
These additional offshore drilling rigs appear to clash with Johnson’s “green industrial revolution” in November. The UK wants to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to zero by 2050. In the coming years, Johnson will invest heavily in electric cars, energy-efficient buildings, hydrogen and wind energy projects and industry groups that specialize in extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The UK wants to be a leader in “green technology”. That will create a quarter of a million more jobs.
Environmental organizations criticize the decision to support oil and gas extraction, after all. The British chapter of Greenpeace said on Wednesday it was “a total failure”. Johnson tears the Paris climate agreement to pieces. According to the Environment Organization, the UK is “making fun” of itself in the run-up to the United Nations climate conference. It is organizing this fall in the Scottish city of Glasgow.
British Energy Minister Cozy Quarting refuted this criticism. He maintains that the plan is part of the transition to a “clean energy nation.” In exchange for exploration opportunities, the British government is asking the oil and gas sector to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 50 percent by 2030.
We are sending a clear message to the world that the UK is going to be a clean energy country.
To this end, 16 billion pounds of private and government funds have been used. The new offshore platforms can produce hydrogen, capture carbon dioxide and are partly powered by renewable energy. In addition, the UK government will stop financing foreign oil projects and British energy exports next month.
1 million barrels per day
Since the 1970s, the UK has been at the center of the world’s oil-producing countries. The discovery of the Scottish oil fields was a godsend for then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to fund the transformation of the collapsing British economy.
In the mid-1980s and early 2000s, British oil production peaked at around 2.5 million barrels per day (See diagram). This has decreased dramatically over the past two decades. Last year, the UK produced around 1 million barrels per day, while daily oil consumption in the UK was 1.2 million. This makes it the eighteenth country in the world. By comparison, the world leader in the US was over 17 million barrels per day in 2020. In Europe, the UK only has to leave Norway with two million barrels.
Lower production, lower oil prices, and tax cuts have reduced UK tax revenue from oil and gas extraction from more than 10 billion pounds to 0.6 billion pounds since 2009. Johnson also hopes to offset this with green profits in the coming decades.
