Tory leader Kemi Badenoch says a government led by her would end Labour’s ban on new oil & gas licences and follow Norway’s example of harnessing the full power the sector.
She will tell a conference in Aberdeen that the Tories would aim to make oil and gas the “cornerstone of Britain’s future” and that “it is only her party that is “backing Britain’s North Sea industry”.
Ms Badenoch would rename the North Sea Transition Authority the North Sea Authority and scrap all of its mandates, replacing them with one overarching mandate: to “maximise the extraction of our oil and gas”.
With 30,000 delegates converging on Aberdeen for the SPE Offshore Europe Conference she will say: “The Labour government have Ed Miliband strangling the North Sea in his dogmatic and ideological pursuit of net zero 2050, refusing new oil and gas licences, and refusing to support UK companies who export oil and gas technologies abroad.
“By restoring common sense to energy policy, we will unlock billions in revenue, secure our supply, and rebuild confidence in the UK economy.”
She will add that “the foundation of economic growth is cheap, abundant energy — and that must be our priority.
“That’s why it is time to overturn the absurd, anti-prosperity, anti-business, anti-oil and gas, anti-British ban on supporting UK companies who export their world-leading technologies overseas.
“Labour sees the North Sea as a relic of the past, we see it as a cornerstone of Britain’s future. By restoring common sense to energy policy, we will unlock billions in revenue, secure our supply, and rebuild confidence in the UK economy. Under the Conservatives, British energy will power British prosperity.”
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said the remarks made clear that the Tories had “learnt nothing” from their electoral defeat and warned the “failed energy policy” would “hurt the pockets of working people”.
In a briefing to journalists, David Whitehouse, chief executive of the industry body Offshore Energies UK, repeated his call for the UK to “produce its own oil and gas”.
He said that the country was likely to fall short of its required 10 billion to 15 billion barrels of oil and gas between now and 2050, with less than four billion barrels likely to be extracted.
“I believe in excess of six billion barrels is a realistic target for the country. We just need the right policies to support that,” he said.
“And I think it is in our national interest that we put the policies in place that it becomes realistic, that we get back to delivering six to seven billion barrels of oil and gas.”
The conference will be also be addressed by energy minister Michael Shanks, but Mr Miliband will not be in attendance. Kate Forbes, Scotland’s deputy First Minister, will also speak to delegates.
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