Importance of the oil and gas sector

ENERGY and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband should expect a friendly but cool reception from oil and gas industry leaders he meets in Aberdeen today. It is not that he is an unpopular figure in the north-east, only that none of the ministers responsible for the oil industry has stayed around long enough to do very much good.

With a general election due next year, there is every reason to suspect that Mr Miliband will not be responsible for the sector in a year’s time.

But that should not put the minister or industry figures off trying to make progress while they can.

The message from companies involved in the North Sea has remained constant through every change of minister and that is that there is a huge amount of oil and gas to be had, but there will have to be serious help from the government to get it.

There may be a quid pro quo for the minister, who will have one eye on the upcoming global-warming summit in Copenhagen.

After all, if Labour and, indeed, the Conservatives are serious about changing Britain to a low-carbon economy, they will not be able to achieve it without the technology and expertise of the oil industry.