War means a rethink on North Sea oil - Sue Webber
The longer the Iran War goes on and the more our vulnerability to energy insecurity is exposed, the UK and Scottish Governments’ attitude towards North Sea oil and gas makes less sense.
Even the complete eradication of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions will make no perceptible difference to global warming and the same is true in reverse, that the exploitation of remaining reserves will not cause a noticeable increase.
I do understand and accept many of us want to do all we can personally to tackle climate change, but Ed Milliband’s justification for our spiralling cost of energy and household bills forces everyone to make sacrifices, as if the likes of China, India, Russia or indeed the USA give two hoots what we do or think.
Yet both Labour and the SNP are hell bent on destroying North Sea jobs on the altar of the illusory “just transition” to renewables, which is anything but just when gas is being imported in ever increasing volumes from Norway as it exploits the reserves we are neglecting.
Abandoning the North Sea is a monumental act of self-harm and the hypocrisy is beyond breathtaking, and all to feed the egos of people like UK energy secretary Ed Miliband, whose unbending devotion to the Net Zero religion feels like revenge for his failure as UK Labour leader.
We live in times of maximum volatility and it calls for pragmatic decisions, not adherence to pig-headed principle, and right now it’s in our interests to get the North Sea back open for business.