North-east business chiefs hail job-saving oil and gas licences

And there's a blunt message for Just Stop Oil too.

By Keith Findlay, Andrew Dykes and Matthew Perry

October 30 2023, 5:00 pm

The North Sea oil and gas industry has become a battleground for climate change activists . Image: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

Campaign group Just Stop Oil may as well call itself Just Import More, a leading business group said today.

Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce (AGCC) was welcoming the award of 27 new North Sea oil and gas licences to firms including Shell, Equinor, Total Energies, Ithaca Energy and Neo Energy.

Announcing the first batch of awards in its 33rd Offshore oil and gas licensing round, the North Sea Transition Authority – the industry’s regulator – said it was prioritising areas that can be brought into production quickly.

‘Welcome boost’

AGCC policy director Ryan Crighton said: “This is a welcome boost for the UK oil and gas industry, which currently supports 215,000 jobs, including 90,000 in Scotland and 45,000 in the Aberdeen region alone.

“UK oil production fell to an all-time low of 38 million tonnes in 2022, and it will plummet to 22m tonnes in 2030 unless new wells are drilled.

“To put that in context, the UK consumes about 61m tonnes of oil annually, so if you ‘Just Stop Oil’ you ‘Just Import More’.”

Ryan Crighton, of Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce. Image: AGCC

Mr Crighton added: “Where the alternative is importing oil or gas at a greater carbon cost, then we must favour domestic production.

“It’s better for jobs, it’s better for our economy and it commits us to sourcing the fossil fuels we need in a manner which minimises emissions and secures tens of thousands of Scottish jobs.”

Banff and Buchan Conservative MP David Duguid said the new licences underlined the UK Government’s “commitment to North Sea oil and gas production, and its role in ensuring a successful energy transition.”

‘Wrong move’, says Humza Yousaf

However, First Minister Humza Yousaf said it was the “wrong move”, adding: “I’m a big supporter, of course, of our gas industry and the workers who work in it. But I’m equally a supporter of transitioning towards renewables.”

Police arrested more than 60 Just Stop Oil protesters after a demonstration in central London earlier today. Dozens of demonstrators lay down on a road near Parliament Square as part of their demands for an end to new oil and gas.

Police officers arrest dozens of Just Stop Oil activists in Parliament Square, London. Image: Vuk Valcic/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

The group plans to “slow march in London on an unprecedented scale” over the next three weeks.

Just Stop Oil protestor Imogen May, 24, said: “We’re simply demanding that the UK government does what its own advisors are asking it to do; the same thing as the United Nations, the Climate Change Committee and Independent Panel on Climate Change.

“We must halt all new licences for fossil fuel production in the UK.”

Just Stop Oil activists demonstrate in London to demand the UK Government immediately halts all new oil, gas and coal projects. Image: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

Friends of the Earth Scotland climate and energy campaigner Caroline Rance described the decision to award the licences as “despicable”.

She added: “Ministers know that new fossil fuels will lead to even greater death and destruction from climate breakdown.

“Every new oilfield granted takes us further from the fair and fast transition to renewable energy that is needed by workers and the communities most affected.”

Legal challenge

Tessa Khan, executive director at pressure group Uplift, said: “New North Sea licences won’t make a scrap of difference to the lives of millions of people who can’t afford to heat their homes this winter, nor for our energy security more generally.”

Earlier this year, Greenpeace and Uplift launched a legal challenge against the 33rd licensing round.

The reality of the energy transition is that we need both oil and gas and renewables in an integrated system to protect the UK’s energy needs over the coming years.”

David Whitehouse, CEO, Offshore Energies UK

Industry body Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) insists more oil and gas exploration and production is needed to replace a “constant churn” in domestic output, with new licences required just to maintain the rate of North Sea decline at its current level.

OEUK chief executive David Whitehouse said: “We all recognise our energy system must change.

“Our industry includes companies that are expanding into renewables, while using their expertise to pioneer ever cleaner energy production.

“The reality of the energy transition is that we need both oil and gas and renewables in an integrated system to protect the UK’s energy needs over the coming years.”