The share of UK’s oil and gas that is exported has increased from 60% to 80% over the last two decades, according to findings that will intensify pressure over the government’s claims that “maxing out” the North Sea will increase the UK’s energy security.
On Monday, the government will attempt to pass the oil and gas bill, which they say will boost energy security by creating a rolling annual licensing regime for new fossil fuel contracts. But critics argue that the fossil fuels extracted will be sold on the global market, and the vast majority will be exported.
Energy security, defined by the International Energy Agency as “the uninterrupted availability of energy sources at an affordable price”, has been a significant concern for the UK in recent years. The issue was thrown into particular relief by the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, and the decision to stop buying Russian oil and gas.
In subsequent months, the Tories made a number of announcements about their plans to continue exploiting UK fossil fuel resources in the North Sea, with the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, vowing to “max out” the reserves.
His licensing bill, first announced during the king’s speech last November, has been derided by green voices in the Conservative party, with former Tory minister and net zero tsar Chris Skidmore resigning over the legislation plans last Friday. The former energy secretary Alok Sharma, who was president of the Cop26 climate conference, has also condemned the plans.
Now analysis of government data by Global Witness has shown that in the 20 years between 2004 and 2023 the UK awarded 1,680 licences to companies to extract oil and gas in the North Sea. The analysis found that the share of UK oil and gas that was exported between 2004 and 2022 rose from 60% to more than 80%. During the same period domestic oil production fell by 60%.
This comes against a complex background: the UK’s refinery capacity and its ability to handle its own fossil fuels has fallen sharply during that period. Nevertheless, the analysis has fuelled ongoing criticism of the prime minister’s claims that awarding annual gas and oil licences to offshore companies will help reduce UK’s reliance on international energy markets.
Jonathan Noronha-Gant, a senior campaigner at Global Witness, said the new law would only prolong the UK’s energy problems. “People want long-term solutions to bring down their bills and fight the emissions damaging the climate,” he said. “New oilfields in the North Sea will line the pockets of rich fossil fuel execs; they won’t help the millions of Brits struggling to pay their bills.”
Skidmore said that the reason he had resigned over the bill was because “there is no future energy security in fossil fuels that are extracted by foreign companies, will only be sold on international markets and will have no impact on UK energy security”.
He told the Guardian that the UK urgently needed to be focused on “home-owned, homegrown power – which means investing instead in renewables and nuclear power.
“It makes no sense for the UK to waste time and investment on economically draining industries that will create stranded assets and stranded communities unable to transition in time to the industries of the future.”
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Worried constituents who have contacted MPs about concerns over the bill are receiving identical emails repeating the unevidenced claims, suggesting a government coordination of approved lines that MPs can copy and paste in response to queries on gas and oil licences. Emails from Liam Fox, Felicity Buchan and Fay Jones all contain the identical line: “The offshore petroleum licensing bill will strengthen the country’s energy security and reduce reliance on volatile international energy markets and hostile foreign regimes. This will cut bills, cut emissions, and cut our dependence on foreign imports, safeguarding our long-term energy security, supporting families with the cost of living, and delivering on the prime minister’s pledge to grow the economy.”
A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson said: “This analysis is fundamentally flawed – it wrongly assumes that all licences lead to equal amounts of oil extraction when that is not the case.
“In fact, the UK is now a net importer of oil and gas – with most of our oil being exported to Europe to be refined into the products we use in the UK.
“It is common sense to make the most of our domestic supply and reduce our vulnerability to hostile states, while bringing in tens of billions of tax which we can invest in helping people with cost of living.”
