UK Government Minister meets with energy firm over Cambo

UK Government Minister for Scotland David Duguid will tomorrow (Tuesday 17 August) meet with Siccar Point Energy in Aberdeen to discuss the proposed Cambo oil field off the west coast of Shetland.

An exploration licence for the field was granted in 2001 and the Oil and Gas Authority is considering whether to approve extraction of oil there.

Minister Duguid said:

I’m eager to learn more about the proposed Cambo field. As we transition to cleaner, low-carbon and renewable energy, demand for oil and gas is declining and will continue to do so, even with new fields such as Cambo. But until that transition is made, as the UK Government is pioneering with the North Sea Transition Deal, sources like Cambo are still required.

The Independent Climate Change Committee advises that we will continue to need oil and gas in the coming years as it is still vital to the production of many everyday essentials, including medicines.

It is far preferable for the UK’s needs to come from our domestic supply, supporting our own workers, rather than relying on imports whose sources may not be responsibly recovered.

Not producing our own oil and gas through the energy transition not only risks the economy and jobs but also security of energy supply.

Working with the UK Government, industry is committed to responsibly managing supply through the energy transition – while developing technology, innovation and expertise that will be critical to Net Zero and fighting climate change in line with our aims at COP26 in Glasgow in November.

• The UK is the only G7 country to have agreed a landmark deal to support the oil and gas industry’s transition to green energy by 2050 while at the same time supporting 40,000 jobs.

• The UK Government has ended support for fossil fuels overseas and is designing a climate compatibility checkpoint which will ensure any future licenses will only be granted if they are aligned with the UK’s climate change objectives.

• The UK is a world leader in the global effort to tackle climate change and we were the first major economy to legislate to end our contribution to climate change by 2050. We have now set in law a new highly ambitious climate change target, to cut emissions by 78% by 2035 compared to 1990 levels.

• The review into the future of offshore oil and gas licensing concluded that a formal climate compatibility checkpoint, building on current practice, will be established. This will help ensure that any future licenses are only awarded on the basis that they are aligned with the government’s broad climate change ambitions, including the UK’s target of reaching net zero by 2050. The climate compatibility checkpoint is currently being designed and will be announced by the end of 2021. We will seek input on the design of the checkpoint in due course.

• The checkpoint will form one additional layer of scrutiny to existing regulatory mechanisms for assessing the environmental impact of oil and gas field developments. Such projects are already subject to an environmental impact assessment, with a public consultation, and are subject to scrutiny from the Oil & Gas Authority (OGA) before consent. The OGA’s new Strategy imposes net zero considerations in the consents process, and full carbon costing in decision making.