Rishi Sunak: 'Max out' North Sea oil and gas to solve climate crisis

Concerns main over the technology, which prevents carbon from escaping into the atmosphere and is trapped in the seabed.

Critics warn that carbon capture simply allows fossil fuels to continue being produced, despite the United Nations and climate experts bluntly warning that oil and gas should be kept in the ground as a key part of averting climate disaster.

The Prime Minister claimed that the UK, and Scotland in particular, can be “leading the world in the technologies of the future”, but admitted that carbon capture is still not proven to work.

He said: “That is a new technology, which Britain has the opportunity to lead the world in, and particularly because of the skills base that we have here in the northeast of Scotland.

“We can leverage the existing infrastructure and the geology of the North Sea in a way that virtually no other country in the world can.

“And if we can get that technology to work, and to bring the cost down, it can be hugely helpful for us to transition to net zero. So the announcement today of the acorn cluster, getting support is a fantastic step towards that goal.”

Mr Sunak also confirmed that 100 new oil and gas licences for projects in the North Sea have been approved, despite persistent warnings that it will contribute to the climate crisis.

Mr Sunak suggested that his strategy will be to drain every drop of oil and gas from the North Sea, claiming it stops the single-use polluting fuels being imported.

A large amount of the remaining North Sea reserves is oil that will be exported overseas.

He said: “My view is we should max out the opportunities that we have here in the North Sea because that's good for our energy security, is good for jobs particularly here in Scotland but it's also good for the climate because the alternative is shipping energy here from halfway around the world with three or four times a carbon emission.

“So any which way you look at it the right thing to do is to invest and to back our North Sea.”

Asked whether his government is set to roll back on its net zero ambitions to try and win votes at next year’s general election, Mr Sunak stressed he is still committed to the policy.

He said: “What this is, is getting to net zero, which I'm absolutely committed to, doing it in a proportionate and pragmatic way that doesn't unnecessarily add burdens or costs to families, particularly at a time when inflation is higher than any of us would have liked.”

The announcements were unsurprisingly welcomed by Offshore Energies UK (OEUK).

David Whitehouse, OEUK CEO said: “Domestic production is the best pathway to net zero and the UK Government’s commitment to licences is a welcome boost for energy security and jobs.

"Oil and gas fields decline naturally over time. The UK needs the churn of new licences to manage production decline in-line with the maturing basin.

"There are currently 283 active oil and gas fields in the North Sea, by 2030 around 180 of those will have ceased production due to natural decline. If we do not replace maturing oil and gas fields with new ones, the rate of production will decline much faster than we can replace them with low carbon alternatives.”

But Friends of the Earth Scotland’s head of campaigns, Mary Church, warned that burning oil and gas “is driving extreme weather and killing people on every continent”, and accused the Prime Minister of “gleefully encouraging the arsonists to go and put more fuel on the fire".

She added: “By ignoring the huge harm caused by fossil fuel company greed and doing the bidding of the industry, the UK Government is blatantly in denial about climate breakdown."

“By committing to future licensing rounds on the same day, it's clear to see that carbon capture is little more than a greenwashing tactic by big oil to try and keep their climate-wrecking industry in business."

Tessa Khan, executive director of Uplift, said the announcement “don’t help the British public one bit”.

She added: ““The only way to deliver an affordable supply of energy, and lower bills, is to move the UK away from expensive oil and gas, by helping people insulate homes and unblocking onshore renewable energy, which is so much cheaper than gas.

“New oil and gas licences won’t make any difference either to UK energy security or our bills.

“The truth is that we have burned most of the UK’s gas. Even the head of the regulator issuing these permits admits that new licences will only make a difference ‘around the edges’. And what little gas is produced won't lower energy costs, a fact the government admits, as it will be sold back to us at market price.

“Rishi Sunak needs to stop pandering to the global oil and gas companies that are profiting from the energy crisis and urgently needs to side with the UK public.”

The Scottish Government’s Energy Secretary, Neil Gray, accused the Prime Minister of “a lack of focus on delivering a just transition for our energy sector”. 

He added: “Scotland is among the best-placed nations in Europe to deploy carbon capture and storage due to our world-leading skilled workforce, our unrivalled access to vast CO2 storage potential in the North Sea, and the opportunities we have to repurpose existing oil and gas infrastructure for CO2 transport and storage.”

“The Scottish Government has been urging the UK Government to commit carbon capture storage in Scotland for well over a decade, and today’s announcement represents welcome, if long overdue, recognition of the enormous potential of the Acorn Project and the Scottish Cluster.

“It is frankly unacceptable however that the UK Government has only committed to set out details for the next, critical steps in this process ‘in due course’.

“In the interests of securing a just transition for our energy workforce while delivering on net zero targets not just in Scotland but the whole of the UK, I urge it to avoid further delay and work at pace with the Acorn Project to secure the technology’s fastest possible deployment.”