INEOS Energy has criticized the UK government’s newly published Energy Independence Bill. The company said the bill’s ban on new drilling in the North Sea would weaken the country’s energy security and increase its reliance on imports.
“The government’s legislation to ban new drilling in the North Sea would actively decrease energy security in the UK,” said David Bucknall, CEO of INEOS Energy. “Leaving existing resources in the ground at home while we import the same resources from abroad makes our energy autonomy a victim of global instability.”
Bucknall pointed to Norway, which he said is reopening gas fields that have been shut for decades on the same continental shelf. He argued that the UK already has the pipelines, platforms, ports and skilled workforce needed to keep producing. “We could use these resources to meet the needs of UK consumers more quickly, cheaply, and securely than bringing energy in from elsewhere, while protecting homes and businesses from the volatility of geopolitical impacts,” he said. “This legislation chooses campaign promises over the country’s future.”
The bill comes as the UK relies more on LNG imports amid declining North Sea production, a policy direction that polling suggests many voters oppose.
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