North Sea oil and gas

Yesterday the government announced that it will be licencing more oil and gas fields for production in the North Sea soon. This follows an intervention by the Chancellor with the Business Secretary, whose department and regulators were delaying or refusing permissions for development of  some discoveries. This announcement comes on the back of the recent licencing of the small Abigail field.

I have been making the case that it means less carbon dioxide is produced if we burn our own North Sea gas delivered by pipeline rather than import LNG from  Qatar by ship. I have argued that we will collect much more tax revenue if we burn our own gas rather than importing as the UK imposes substantial taxes on the production of oil and gas . It also means we create and keep more well paid jobs by sustaining our domestic industry instead of relying on imports.

I look forward to further successes for commonsense and for import substitution.

203 Comments

  1. Oldwulf
    February 10, 2022

    “….whose department and regulators were delaying or refusing permissions for development of some discoveries.”

    Why ??????

    1. Mark B
      February 10, 2022

      I hate to say this, but I suspect that this is propaganda. More information please, Sir John.

      1. glen cullen
        February 10, 2022

        Propaganda is part of the master plans green revolution

      2. hefner
        February 10, 2022

        You might want to read the report ‘The benefits of Brexit: How the UK is taking advantage of leaving the EU’, 105 pp., 31/01/2022 on the gov.uk website. I guess that must be the roadmap for the BOG(e) Minister.

        1. Mark B
          February 11, 2022

          The one benefit I wanted from BREXIT was the one thing that it was all about – Independence !

          1. glen cullen
            February 11, 2022

            nothing more nothing less

        2. hefner
          February 12, 2022

          ‘Nothing more nothing less’, (un)fortunately we are already getting a bit more/less than that: see ukaneu.ac.uk ‘Doing things differently? Policy after Brexit’, 31/01/2022, 58 pp.

          Also (and much more critical) eulawanalysis.blogspot.com, 08/02/2022, Stephen Weatherill, ‘Hunting the benefits of Brexit’. (About 10 mn reading).

      3. Mark B
        February 10, 2022

        I see my post from this morning has been deleted. I appreciate it contained links and to named persons. However, it contained information as to why we are suffering from not only fuel restrictions, but high prices as well. Clearly not all CS’s fault as a heavy proportion of blame clearly falls on MP’s and the government who create policy based on these environmental pressure groups. It is sad, but understandable, why our kind host chose not to publish as it would have shed much light on the subject.

        Perhaps I should just write letters to the Irish Times and post links to it instead if I want something, even off topic, known.

        😉

        Reply Write what you want in your own words

        1. Mark B
          February 11, 2022

          I did !!

          That is why you deleted it !

      4. Giles Brennand
        February 10, 2022

        Cost of net zero £18,000 a year per household for thirty years …

        https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/revealed-the-true-cost-of-net-zero-insanity-18000-a-year-for-every-household/?mc_cid=3f7c80f0e4&mc_eid=a5a9865cca

        Insanity.

        A cast iron guaranteed election loser.

        This policy MUST be dropped. There is no way it could be delivered – without martial law.

        1. hefner
          February 11, 2022

          So with 27.8 m households in the UK, 30 years and £18,000/year, and a $2.7 tn GDP (in 2020) about £2 tn, that’s a bit more than £15 tn, ie, 7.5 years of UK GDP? Really?

    2. Cynic
      February 10, 2022

      Perhaps the Government is going through an epiphany and about to eschew ideologies of globalism and net zero and govern realistically.

      1. Everhopeful
        February 10, 2022

        +1
        Yes..very much doubt it.
        They have launched a consultation on whether jabs should be obligatory for health workers.
        Thought that was done and dusted.
        But no…no epiphany!!

      2. Donna
        February 10, 2022

        Great cartoon in The Daily Sceptic today:
        What does Net Zero mean to you?

        1. Zero heat. Strapline ….. I can’t afford the bills
        2. Zero money. Strapline …. What, more green taxes?
        3. Zero car. Strapline….. I can’t afford an electric car.
        4. Zero flights. Strapline ….. I can’t afford to fly (on holiday)
        5. Zero job. Strapline ….. Potential employer saying “sorry I can’t afford you.”
        6. Zero chance. Picture …… Gravestone, RIP Dad.

      3. lifelogic
        February 10, 2022

        Perhaps, we can but hope.

        At least Kwasi has stopped chanting the drivel about “the UK becoming the Saudi Arabia of Wind”. Could we have an energy minister who has some knowledge of energy/physics/energy engineering and energy economics rather than a deluded history perhaps?

      4. MFD
        February 10, 2022

        Live old horse and you will get grass!!!!
        I think the saying goes.

      5. Peter Wood
        February 10, 2022

        I think your cynicism is well placed. My guess is that Bunter is making a bucket full of promises, to hang on to his job, that will be forgotten as quickly as they are made. There has obviously been very little thought behind those plans published so far and the ministerial positions created; just grand sounding ideals and titles. I fear our host’s optimism will be dashed again. Fool me once….

      6. Lifelogic
        February 10, 2022

        Meanwhile:- THE fracking regulator has ordered two of England’s only viable shale gas wells to be sealed, prompting a backlash from Tory MPs amid the energy crisis. The Oil and Gas Authority has told gas production company Cuadrilla to press ahead with “plugging and abandoning” its wells at the Preston New Road site, Lancashire, according to correspondence seen by The Daily Telegraph.

        Obviously determined to freeze many OAPs to death!

        1. glen cullen
          February 10, 2022

          Yesterday Jacob Rees-Mogg tells PM to bring back fracking….today our government is going to cap the fracking drill wells with cement

      7. Julian Flood
        February 10, 2022

        If wishes were fishes… How any adult can look at the economics of Net Zero, or examine the impact of our economy on the atmosphere, and not see that our own prosperity should take priority is beyond me.

        JF

      8. Mitchel
        February 10, 2022

        The government/establishment cannot “eschew ideologies of globalism” they have long since placed all their(ie our) bets on it.

        That’s why we have the current geopolitical “pop Gotterdamerung”(as one analyst has called it this week)-the new Eurasian-led world order will reveal the UK to be what it really is-a vastly,vastly overpopulated group of islands on the wrong side of the world(and history) with the government and currency of a banana republic.Singapore-on Thames?No,Puerto Rico-on-Thames!

    3. Peter Wood
      February 10, 2022

      The problem word in this report is ‘soon’. This goes against all the pretty promises made by Mr and Mrs Bunter at COP. We don’t even know if the minister of BEIS is interested in making it work, or indeed if he has any interest in business at all…
      Which minister is going to push for completion?

      1. rose
        February 10, 2022

        Judging by the rage and fury of La Lucas in the House, it might well be genuine. A change of policy like this surely has to start modestly and then build up.

    4. lifelogic
      February 10, 2022

      Why? A deluded group think religion, lack of scientific understanding by 95% of MPs and very many vested or even corrupt interests.

      Buying and thus causing a new EV and battery to be built rather than keeping your old car almost invariably causes more CO2 too, yet this deluded government subsidise and promote this activity hugely. Not that CO2 is actually a serious problem. We anyway do not have any spare low carbon electricity to charge these EVs with anyway.

      Justin Rowlatt the BBC’s Chief Environment correspondent yesterday reported on the fusion breakthrough (as if talking to young children). He was careful to say fusion would not arrive in time to solve climate change. Another deluded PPE grad it seems. When it does arrive we can use the fusion energy to clear and scrap the white elephant wind farms, recycle all the EV car batteries, generate synthetic hydrocarbon fuels and even ( if that were needed) remove CO2 from the atmosphere – but this almost certainly will not be needed anyway, as it is generally a net positive for trees, plants, animals, seaweed and crop yields.

      1. lifelogic
        February 10, 2022

        Allister Heath today is surely right as usual:- “Smart meters are a symbol of the elite drive to nudge Britain into submission. Combined with the lunacy of net zero, surge pricing will merely become a tool of eco-punishment”

        No mention of Net Zero or the rip off energy prices (by government design) on the Conservative’s Party Political Broadcast nor the figures for the thousands of people coming across in Ribs, not their socialist/big state moronic levelling up agenda, the expensive ineffective heap pump agenda… – unless perhaps I missed these.

        1. The Prangwizard
          February 11, 2022

          I have constantly refused pressure to accept a Smart meter because I did not trust the declared purpose for them. I will not have one. We have dictatorial rulers.

    5. Iain Moore
      February 10, 2022

      Yes there are some questions about this , why is the Chancellor part of the announcement ?

    6. Guy Liardethttps://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2022/02/04/you-can-interfere-too-much/#comment-1297725
      February 11, 2022

      Do please take on board modern science which says that CO2 has a negligible effect on the climate.

  2. DOM
    February 10, 2022

    That such a decision would have seemed banal and boring only three years ago is evidence of a small victory over infiltration by activists and lobbyists across the entire body politic. These unelected limpets and their bureaucratic buddies who deliberately work to block and warp public policy to suit their ideology have become a direct threat to security and prosperity.

    If John’s government can pass laws to crush speech and voice they can certainly pass laws to crush green activists, race activists and gender activists who seek to destroy all that we are

    The real question is whose side is the Tory party on?

    1. No Longer Anonymous
      February 10, 2022

      +1 and I’ll believe it when I see it.

      The next general election is going to be a bleak one without hope and without trust if none of this materialises.

      Carbon cutting comes with a severe drop in the standard of living and men tend to sire more children when they are poorer and when they depend on either religion or chaos in which to sate their egos.

      I note there is a push to cut out meat eating. At the behest of a tiny minority of vegans no doubt.

      The rich will be eating prime cuts whilst telling the rest of us that meat is bad for us, like central heating.

    2. Nig l
      February 10, 2022

      ‘A failing and empty Tory party and a failing and hollowed out man who they have allowed to subvert the democratic processes’

  3. Bob Dixon
    February 10, 2022

    A coal mine in Cumbria has recently been approved?
    A deep mine in Wales has been approved?
    With a fair wind blowing we may generate sufficient electricity!

    1. Ian Wragg
      February 10, 2022

      That just leaves fracking and it’s game set and match for common sense.

      1. Longinus
        February 10, 2022

        Johnson has stopped all of Cuadrilla’s drilling and fracking operations in UK.

      2. Mickey Taking
        February 10, 2022

        not while the £800 per roll of wallpaper Queen lives in grandeur, but expects the people to shiver and queue for food, while watching new Teslas whisper by…..

      3. alan jutson
        February 10, 2022

        Ian

        Unlikely to see much Fracking, given if such reports are to be believed (Guido Fawkes website) the Government are ordering the closure and sealing of such sites, even where extensive gas resources have already been found. !

      4. glen cullen
        February 10, 2022

        You spoke to soon !!!

    2. glen cullen
      February 10, 2022

      We can dig for coal but this government is still closing coal fired power stations, within 2 years
      ‘’ The deadline to phase out coal from Great Britain’s energy system has been brought forward by a whole year, highlighting the UK’s leadership to go further in driving down emissions and tackling climate change.’’ https://www.gov.uk/government/news/end-to-coal-power-brought-forward-to-october-2024

    3. David Peddy
      February 10, 2022

      When was this ?

    4. glen cullen
      February 10, 2022

      While the West pursues Net Zero at any cost, China – the world’s largest polluter – just approved another $1.1 billion coal-fired power plant.
      https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/chinas-zhejiang-approves-new-11-bln-coal-fired-power-plant-2022-02-09/?fbclid=IwAR2JSZ0OoEioqiaB9UQcwGAJqVqRogR27ydzZ8XOwFTSHXbD2LbPUU4uwDI

  4. DOM
    February 10, 2022

    ‘Leaked NHS report’ showing NHS modellers believe waiting lists to hit 9m. In plain English this can be translated as NHS deliberately creating a crisis to demand more funding and to block any reform of this Socialist political organisation that is now a bottomless pit of waste, that is deliberately harming patient interest and all designed to promote the interests of the NHS

    The NHS has this Tory government and the cojones every Tory MP in its grip who shake in fear when asked about the deity that they themselves helped to create. Tory MPS should condemn those who run the NHS for their scaremongering but they don’t do they, they sit in silence

    I am convinced that the Tory party has become an even greater threat that Marxist Labour. Their refusal to impose reform on the BBC, NHS, Whitehall etc etc is an indictment of this useless and destructive party

    1. Michelle
      February 10, 2022

      It’s seems incredible to me that so many seem unable to grasp the fact that a huge population surge, one which shows no sign of slowing and incidentally never democratically initiated, would put a corresponding pressure on services.
      Within that was the act of keeping places for students of medicine low, which then obviously means you will have to bring in even more people to plug the gaps appearing. In turn they themselves put pressure on existing services and the whole merry go round just keeps perpetuating itself.

      The NHS is now a branch of the new religion. Indeed hasn’t someone been appointed whose main concern seems to be preaching from its book of ‘diversity equality’.
      All this way before covid only NHS ever hit the trail.

      With family members who are NHS workers, I gather the army of middle management clipboard wielding commissars are a menace to those whose job it is to treat and nurse patients according to medical needs and not cultural/political.
      A complete overhaul of who is employed by the NHS, why they are employed, what actual medical benefit to patients or smooth running of the machine they have is long overdue.

    2. a-tracy
      February 10, 2022

      Dom, I wonder if all Health Services in all the other Countries are as overwhelmed as ours? If not then our NHS should be under a microscope, I’d love to see what the pinch points are in the modellers’ predictions, which specialists do we require to bring in so that the British consultants can concentrate on the most important cases. We can’t just magic qualified surgeons up to clear a list that wasn’t done during the lockdown.

      Are our surgeons and operation teams willing to work an extra day per week on a weekend for just a month on day-case operations? Do we have retired doctors that could do some minor procedures that have stacked up?

      With people taking fewer Spanish holidays I wonder if the private hospitals in Spain’s holiday resorts have lots of spare capacity or staff that could transfer for a specific clearance of minor operation backlogs in the UK?

    3. No Longer Anonymous
      February 10, 2022

      Part time working should be banned. So should maternity/paternity leave. So should early retirement.

      I doubt any of the candidates for medical degrees told their interviewers “I intend to work part time, take loads of paid leave and retire as early as I can.”

      As a result, many young lads who would have put in full-time at the coal face were denied positions at med schools and here are the results.

      The same with lots of public industries declaring staff shortages. There are plenty of staff… just not enough productive ones !

      1. a-tracy
        February 11, 2022

        NLA – it would be interesting to see a comparison between M & F doctors and the hours they work and what age they finish work completely to see if your assumptions are correct. If so then two F would need training for every one M candidate to get the same output. I have two female GPs at my practice and they seem to put in more hours than the two older male GPs (if available appointments are anything to go by).

    4. glen cullen
      February 10, 2022

      Yesterday I received a letter from my GP doctor, as part of an annual health review, to complete a blood test, and enclosed a specimen bag, and to book an appointment with the regional test centre – 3 questions
      How much extra is my GP paid to send out this letter that I didn’t request nor require
      Whats the total cost of completing the blood test
      Am I now a statistic of the NHS waiting list

      1. Mickey Taking
        February 10, 2022

        what on earth is an annual review? Sir John, could you ask a big surgery in Wokingham, ‘How many Annual Reviews were conducted in 2021, how many patients covered by the practice?’

        1. glen cullen
          February 10, 2022

          I just don’t want to be in the system or on a waiting list taking up resources when there are real sick people out there who need urgent help
          I like the idea of pre-emptive measures but we’re not even fully out of covid yet….hayho another letter another dollar

    5. BOF
      February 10, 2022

      And with an 80 seat majority!!

    6. Mark B
      February 10, 2022

      The solution to waiting lists, not that they will ever do it, is to make private health insurance by your company a non-benefit. Let those who can afford it pay for it, and grow the private healthcare market.

    7. Jim Whitehead
      February 10, 2022

      DOM, +1, Three more powerful and well aimed paragraphs, thank you.

  5. Mick
    February 10, 2022

    We cannot be fully dependent on wind and solar, we need our own oil and gas and to restart drilling for shale , forget all this green climate rubbish we should be living for now not into the distance future

    1. Margaret Brandreth-
      February 10, 2022

      We need a balance Mick . Time goes quickly and our children and grandchildren should not suffer sufficient sensible planning.
      I could not believe hearing about Liz Truss going to Russia this am to discuss an invasion into Ukraine with the hypothetical imperative , ‘don’t invade or there will be consequences’ This stance shows a lack of perception of the primitive aggressive/ power nature of man. Putin could think that who are we to tell him that his actions are wrong and will fire up this peevish spirit to make war men seem to perpetuate. What is wrong with man who wants to destroy and not keep a balance with man and nature.!

      1. Margaret Brandreth-
        February 10, 2022

        i.e should not suffer due to insufficient, sensible planning…

    2. glen cullen
      February 10, 2022

      Spot On Mick

  6. BOF
    February 10, 2022

    A welcome intervention of common sense! Now for onshore gas, which has kept US prices so low. The hard work of you and your like minded fellow MP’s has at last paid off.

    Mention of common sense, now that C V19 restrictions are to be dropped, when will the CV19 Act be REPEALED?

    1. Bill B.
      February 10, 2022

      Or does it simply lapse in March?

      1. lifelogic
        February 10, 2022

        I happened to catch the Conservative Party Political totally dishonest advert last night. I assume they are exempt from the usual need to be vaguely honest.

        They did not get even the big things right – the hugely extended lockdowns did far more harm than good. Injecting people with vaccines made by others is not a difficult task and no great achievement for a health service. Vaccinating children does far more harm than good and is wrong in general. The NHS has actually failed appallingly.

        Inflation is rising probably will be out of control, they have clearly given up on most crime, given up on policing the borders, energy prices going through the roof due to government net zero lunacy, living standards are declining, their net zero and expensive energy policy is insane, they have wasted £bn on test and trace, HS2, eat out to help out, CV loans, bloated government and very much else, taxes have been increased massively, red tape still increasing, the advance pandemic planning was appalling, the currency is devaluing, interest rates will rise much further still, they have totally failed in NI and failed to take full advantage of Brexit, the NHS is appalling – you can have your operation in ~ three years if you have not died first!

        We have you cash already mate so you are a liability to the NHS ~ so get lost. We will treat you if and when we feel like it!

    2. Sharon
      February 10, 2022

      More importantly, what is happening with the 1984 Public Health Act? That was, apparently, as much of a problem in giving the government powers to shut us down etc. The Corona Virus Act is mostly gone now, but was rather smoke and mirrors compared with the 1984 one. (An irony!) Is that correct Mr R?

      1. Augustus Princip
        February 10, 2022

        Don’t worry, the thorough COVID-19 inquiry will identify and prevent future abuses of human rights and corruption by the state.
        ‘Lessons will be learnt.’

    3. Sea_Warrior
      February 10, 2022

      I’m in favour of ‘onshore gas’ though many aren’t. The MINIMUM that the government should be doing is to have put in place the extraction facilities above the most promising fields, so that we have a national strategic reserve. Public opinion on this issue will be shifting as gas-bills hit the doormats.

      1. glen cullen
        February 10, 2022

        I agree that public opinion will change upon higher domestic energy bills…just wait till businesses either stop trading, make staff redundant or pass on their higher energy costs to the consumer…energy bills to small business is a killer

    4. No Longer Anonymous
      February 10, 2022

      Yes. And a categoric “Masks Off”. Why should I be mask-shamed as I am by public announcement these days ?

      “Wear a mask out of courtesy to others.”

      Mask enforcers don’t ever want this to end and a vaccine roll out better than our wildest dreams proves that they don’t want to let go of their power.

      Being gluttonous absorbs far more NHS resources than not wearing a mask but we are (rightly) not allowed to fat shame.

      1. Nottingham Lad Himself
        February 11, 2022

        There’s no law against telling people directly that they could do with losing weight.

        1. Mickey Taking
          February 11, 2022

          just ensure your ability to duck fast is in order.

  7. Zorro
    February 10, 2022

    Because I am afraid, a lot of the Civil Service are only interested in their personal pronouns, the ‘New Normal, Build Back Better’ Green agenda cult and the quotes are their to prove it in their work blogs. Liberal, left leaning, Mark Carney/Justin Trudeau loving types sipping from their frothy lattes tut tutting about the working classes wanting their freedom. Yes, these people exist.

    Zorro

    1. Lifelogic
      February 11, 2022

      They certainly do.

    2. Lifelogic
      February 11, 2022

      Kwasi is actually one of the sounder & brighter Tory MPs I find – so dire is the overall standards alas. But the man knows almost nothing about energy, energy economics, physics, climate or energy engineering. This he has often demonstrated. At least he seems to have stopped wittering on about the UK becoming the “Saudi Arabia of Wind”.

  8. Sea_Warrior
    February 10, 2022

    Good. Now Kwarteng needs the push. There are any number of Conservative MPs who could do the BEIS job better than him. And I trust that the gas produced will come to these shores and be used here. And that CNOC will be driven out of our waters. And one other thing: Sunak needs to make a DETAILED statement in the House about the economic benefits of this move. There’s some educating of MPs that needs doing! Perhaps the PM could find the time to listen in.

    1. glen cullen
      February 10, 2022

      Kwarteng dropped the ‘B’ from BEIS a long time ago…his department is now a vassal for the climate change committee and their policy of net-zero

  9. PeteB
    February 10, 2022

    A rare case of common sense and commercial thinking breaks out in Westminster. Hang out the bunting.

    Appreciate this decision is in line with your strategy, Sir J, however the scale looks modest against the need. I heard mention of the capacity of these fields providing 6 month’s UK supply. We need ten times as many licenses issuing.

  10. Shirley M
    February 10, 2022

    That’s good news, but who was responsible for allowing things to get so bad before they got off their backsides and did something about it? It doesn’t take a genius to know home production is better in EVERY way than importing it from potentially hostile countries who may threaten to turn the tap off whenever it suits (eg. France as an example).

    There are no excuses, they cannot even use ‘green’ as an excuse as it is far ‘greener’ to use ‘local’ resources than transport it by ship. Why is nobody ever held to account for costing the country potentially £billions, or worse, many deaths from lack of heating?

    1. Augustus Princip
      February 10, 2022

      Allowing the loss of our nuclear industry was all part of the planned decline of the UK.

    2. Michelle
      February 10, 2022

      It is a good point you raise as to why no one is ever held accountable and that is across the board on many issues I believe.
      The answer lies really with the electorate themselves, because sadly they carry on voting in the same establishment parties and actually believe that ‘this time’ they will be different.
      It’s like the woman who continually returns to her abusive partner believing the promises made.

      It is a travesty of justice that so many have abused their position of power, caused untold misery to many through their social policies, wasted enormous sums of money that could have been put to good use on their own personal ‘visions’ of how things should be. Then get to walk away into the sunset with a nice payout.
      A strong reminder is well overdue that they are in their positions on loan, and their remit is not to carry out their personal visions or be in the pockets of outside influence.

    3. SM
      February 10, 2022

      +10

    4. Timaction
      February 10, 2022

      Indeed. They hide their stupidity until exposure of common sense as the msm are useless. Importing fuels and energy when we have our own is brainless.

  11. Peter Lord
    February 10, 2022

    Sigh …. we need a government with more ambition. Yes, avoiding shipping LNG is good, but much much better is not using gas at all.

    More wind, solar, storage etc …. much less oil, gas and coal.

    1. Shirley M
      February 10, 2022

      Wind and solar are unreliable. Storage of electricity is wasteful, expensive, and currently relies on rare natural resources of limited availability.
      I doubt any business could cope with having power only when the sun shines and/or the wind blows at the correct speed.

      1. Everhopeful
        February 10, 2022

        +1
        Has there ever been a commie revolution that did not bring about mass starvation and death?
        I’m not sure why anyone keeps being fooled.
        Kill the sparrows…it is all their fault…and everything will be fine.
        People, in their warm, filled-fridge houses believe leftist drivel at their peril.

      2. Nottingham Lad Himself
        February 10, 2022

        When it is available – a great deal of the time – solar and wind energy is very cheap, besides being environmentally harmless.

        That is why we should use as much as possible while it is there, and use the next best thing – gas, which produces only half the CO2 of coal or heavy oil – when it is not.

        1. Mickey Taking
          February 10, 2022

          but how to capture that energy being the issue?

          1. Nottingham Lad Himself
            February 11, 2022

            Irrespective of storing surplus, maximum use can be made of whatever availability there might be, and that is capable of satisfying a large part of overall demand.

        2. Original Richard
          February 11, 2022

          NLH : “When it is available – a great deal of the time – solar and wind energy is very cheap, besides being environmentally harmless.”

          Solar energy is of course only available during the day and is not cheap for the UK because of our latitude.

          Windmills have a capacity factor of around 50% which means that the figures quoted for installed wind energy capacity should be halved. Furthermore it is not cheap and the prices for wind energy are false because they never include the costs of intermittency.

        3. Lifelogic
          February 11, 2022

          “environmentally harmless” what total drivel – just how many bats, birds, insects and raptors do they kill every hours, how much concrete, diesel and rare earth materials do they need, how with they be recycled? Plus they need gas, coal or diesel back up.
          Please get real.

    2. Mike Wilson
      February 10, 2022

      More wind, solar, storage etc

      More wind and solar is pointless without storage.

      Could you explain your costed plan to store the energy we need to meet demand when we have a long, windless period of high pressure in mid-winter (which often happens and means cold weather).

      I’m all for more wind and solar but where is the costed storage plan?

      1. Nottingham Lad Himself
        February 11, 2022

        No, until wind and solar are capable of supplying 100% of typical demand there is every point in more.

        At best it presently gives about 50%.

        1. Peter2
          February 11, 2022

          50% is rare
          Are you talking about maximum potential capacity?
          And remember that’s just electricity not overall energy requirements.
          For example
          In 2021 wind averaged 20% and solar averaged 5% of electricity generation
          Good and improving but not 50%

    3. lifelogic
      February 10, 2022

      Why is it better not to use natural gas? It is on demand, easy to store, can be very cheap, we have loads of it in the UK, it is efficient, clean, easy to transport in the existing grid and the products of combustion CO2 (plant and tree food) and H2O are harmless. Soon we will have better nuclear or even fusion anyway. We should use the fossil fuels now until these better alternative are viable and cost effective. Stop all the subsidies for wind & solar and have a level playing field.

      Put these subsidies into Nuclear, better batteries, fuel cells & fusion and other sensible R&D. But roll these out if and only if they work and are cost effective – not premature roll out with subsidies.

      1. dixie
        February 11, 2022

        A problem with natural resources is that the economics of extraction is variable so even if we had “loads” of gas or oil it may not be practical to access it yet. And how much is “loads” exactly I have seen various estimates for reserves including one of 6 months. I am sure there are more but what is the extent? Mark B mentions an 8 year projection for Abigail field, 6 months is nothing and 8 years isn’t that long.
        I agree about progressing modular nuclear even with taxpayer subsidy provided there were a way to prevent a future government giving or selling it away.
        I don’t think there are subsidies for solar but would support such for R&D (eg perovskites) and developing a manufacturing base in the UK. We also need to support progress on energy storage.
        WRT your “level playing field”, will the hydrocarbon industries be returning all the subsidies they have ever received?

        1. Lifelogic
          February 11, 2022

          “A problem with natural resources is that the economics of extraction is variable so even if we had “loads” of gas or oil it may not be practical to access it yet.”

          Yes true but even more true for renewables where the economics of extraction can be very poor indeed.

    4. Ian Wragg
      February 10, 2022

      Utter rubbish it’s wind, solar and others that have got us into this precarious position.
      No other country is following our lead they’re all laughing at us

      1. dixie
        February 11, 2022

        It is the piss poor planning by civil servants, piss poor leadership by politicians and the government malaise of simply letting the EU make all the decisions that have got us into this position.
        Technologies have strengths and weaknesses and resources can run out, you have to plan around these things, something our governments have failed to do and others have exploited that.

    5. Mickey Taking
      February 10, 2022

      ambition? thats a laugh, more like repression.

    6. glen cullen
      February 10, 2022

      ” much less oil, gas and coal”
      That only if you believe the UN IPCC reports….I don’t

    7. MFD
      February 10, 2022

      Same old, same old! Some people never learn.

    8. Julian Flood
      February 10, 2022

      You forgot to mention fairy dust. And there’s something from unicorns I believe.

      JF

    9. turboterrier
      February 10, 2022

      Peter Lord

      Sadly in the real world you will always have to have a back up for when the wind doesn’t blow or blows too hard.
      Turbines cannot in any shape or form provide base load. They are not the panacea that all the green congregation of the new saving the world religion want or pray will happen. If it was so good and reliable China and the like would change their type of power generators in an instant.

      .

      1. glen cullen
        February 10, 2022

        If a chinese coal fired power station fails, it has a second coal fired power station as a back-up and if that fails they have a third….it also has a few wind-turbines to ‘save face’

    10. dixie
      February 10, 2022

      We need more nuclear in England, owned by England and operated by a British company so we can be properly independent of the French, Germans and the Scots.

    11. Mickey Taking
      February 11, 2022

      Good Lord ….Wind and solar is nowhere near enough, and when to put it in batteries?- after sunset when demand to use is high? Oil – no transport and thousands of goods cannot be made. Gas – no home heating and loss of many manufacturing processes. What will take up the shortfall, or will you ensure demand collapses – no heating, electric lighting, no cars, goods vehicles…..

  12. Richard1
    February 10, 2022

    Here’s another good suggestion for reducing CO2 emissions: ignore the green fanatics and start fracking.

    1. Everhopeful
      February 10, 2022

      +1
      Very good idea.
      ALL fossil fuel was deposited for our use! God-given.
      And…if the powers that should-never-have-been are so bothered, when are they going to dismantle HUGE, plastic package-using multi nationals? THAT’S where all the plastic waste comes from!
      If anyone is bothered about CO2, small shops, local production = the only way to go.

      1. glen cullen
        February 10, 2022

        The Lord & the earth giveth and the green lunacy Tories taketh it away

        1. Everhopeful
          February 10, 2022

          +1
          Absolutely!

        2. Mickey Taking
          February 11, 2022

          whatever makes you think she votes Tory?

    2. glen cullen
      February 10, 2022

      hear hear

  13. Sharon
    February 10, 2022

    JR I hope you don’t mind my posting a link to the open consultation and survey of “Revoking vaccination as a condition of deployment across all health and social care.”

    https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/revoking-vaccination-as-a-condition-of-deployment-across-all-health-and-social-care

    1. Bryan Harris
      February 10, 2022

      Thanks Sharon – That really does need to be seen by right minded people

    2. Amanda
      February 10, 2022

      Thank you Sharon, completed – it has to be done before 16th February. What a bizarre questionnaire !!!

      Sir John, good work on the licences, thank you, please keep going together with your more sensible colleagues. But, the person in the Prime Minister’s role still has to go asap.

      1. Mickey Taking
        February 10, 2022

        designed to confuse and cause contradictory answers….

    3. Everhopeful
      February 10, 2022

      I filled that in earlier.
      Very odd little document I thought. “Protected characteristics”?
      Anyway, I did it.
      Thought the ridiculous notion of obligatory jabbing for health workers had been dropped.
      This govt. is very Terminator-like.
      “I’ll be back!”

    4. Denis Cooper
      February 10, 2022

      Thanks.

      I hope that he will also allow me to post the link to a discussion on Politics Live yesterday which rather undermines the government’s stated reason for reopening the question, that Omicron is intrinsically less severe than earlier variants of Covid-19. It is, but it is still twice as bad as seasonal flu for vulnerable people, including the elderly. From 28 minutes in here:

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0014bwt/politics-live-09022022

      Therefore I have responded to the consultation by identifying the group which would be most negatively impacted by revocation as:

      “The elderly and other vulnerable people who may be infected with Covid-19 by a member of hospital staff after they have been admitted for some other reason, for example a fall or other accident.”

      And saying that:

      “Unvaccinated staff should not be deployed in close contact with patients, especially the most vulnerable.”

      Having said that it is clear that as far as existing staff are concerned the government cannot go ahead with its plan for the immediate future, although it could make vaccination a condition for new recruits.

      1. Mark B
        February 11, 2022

        You deleted my posts because, as you stated, I did not use my own words. How is this any different other than the fact that this post is off topic ?

    5. Mickey Taking
      February 10, 2022

      Marked a zero for Simple English.

      1. Everhopeful
        February 10, 2022

        +1

  14. Nig l
    February 10, 2022

    Funny how parties that are doing badly in the polls not to mention a lame duck PM desperately trying to hang on to his job suddenly get common sense. Get ready for more of this as the big ambitious beasts vying for his job, chip away for their own benefit and start to make pronouncements distancing themselves from policies they rubber stamped when Boris was all powerful.

    A large majority should have been good to drive, change, efficiency etc. instead it has been undemocratic and complacent.

    And following on from yesterday, the DOT refuse to release a report about a 25 million accounting scandal, the NHS refused more demanding targets, No 10 caved in and something that happened not that long ago. Nine fire control centres were built at a cost of three quarters of a billion.

    None of them worked. We don’t need nice words and neat ‘flow charts’ Sir JR. We need the people responsible thrown out the b****y door.

    1. SM
      February 10, 2022

      +100

    2. Michelle
      February 10, 2022

      We should all know by now that this is how it works and any changes are temporary to secure their position.
      Wait until election time and there will be a massive propaganda spin and just enough tinkering to make things look different.
      The electorate fall for it and the rest is history, which seems to keep repeating itself.

    3. Julian Flood
      February 10, 2022

      Door? Not window? Start with the CCC.

      JF

      1. glen cullen
        February 10, 2022

        Yes please

  15. MPC
    February 10, 2022

    We have you, and some of your close like minded colleagues, to thank for this Mr Redwood. I hope there’s a clear announcement this week with no ‘green’ caveats such that any benefits are diluted. No doubt today your few critics on this site will contort themselves to find some banal and vague objection to your hard work in this area.

    1. Everhopeful
      February 10, 2022

      JR is like a swan serenely swimming on a calm lake, feet paddling away madly beneath the surface.
      He gets a lot done!
      Those who criticise have no idea (yet) what it is to be cold, hungry and destitute.
      And unfree…and since the “useful idiots” are generally picked off first…dead!

    2. MFD
      February 10, 2022

      Yes MPC +1

  16. Donna
    February 10, 2022

    Well done Sir John, your persistence has paid off. But this seems to be a case of “working around an obstructive Civil Service” which you proposed yesterday. Leaving the cause of the problem in place.

    “whose department and regulators were delaying or refusing permissions for development of some discoveries.”

    If this is correct (and I have no reason to believe it isn’t) then perhaps Sir John can tell us when the people in the department and regulators who were delaying or refusing permission will be removed from their posts.

    We cannot have unelected people and regulators pursuing their own obsessive agenda and acting against the interests of the British people.

    1. Michelle
      February 10, 2022

      I don’t believe the Ministers are held hostage by the civil service, nor should anyone fall for that.
      Those elected have been hand in hand with the civil service to bring us to the dire situation we are in on so many levels.
      It just doesn’t make sense or seem feasibly possible that this is all down to the civil service.

      So many see this place now as just a ‘business’ in their globalist view which doesn’t have time for concerns of the little people.

      1. Original Richard
        February 11, 2022

        Michelle,

        I do believe our elected representatives are held hostage by the civil service, and also by the educational establishment.

        As the old joke goes, it doesn’t matter for whom you vote the Government always wins, for it appears that whatever colour is the Government we get mass, uncontrolled immigration, Net Zero, HS2, an ever expanding and expensive civil service, increased taxes and never any cuts in Government spending.

        In the latter half of the last century our intelligence services were infiltrated by the Cambridge Communists. This continues today except now it is much bigger, with communists infiltrating our entire educational establishment, who have been captured by 150,000 Chinese “students”, our civil service, a majority of our MSM, quangos and institutions.

        I simply don’t believe our elected Parliament are in control.

    2. Everhopeful
      February 10, 2022

      +1
      SAGE = unelected!
      Look at the devastation.

      1. glen cullen
        February 10, 2022

        Agree
        Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) = unelected quango
        Look at the devastation

        1. Everhopeful
          February 10, 2022

          +1

    3. Timaction
      February 10, 2022

      Indeed. Politicos love to talk about reform but never about themselves or their apparatus via the civil serpents.

    4. glen cullen
      February 10, 2022

      I would suggest that SirJ persistence within parliament under the past 3 Tory PMs hasn’t paid off….its taken a decade to extend a few gas drills by six months
      Whats paid off is SirJ persistence with the people and getting his views aired and getting the message out
      I fear that to many good backbenchers are fobbed off by government of senior civil servants

    5. forthurst
      February 10, 2022

      As JR made plain yesterday, MPs have the power potentially to enact whatever legislation they want which includes how the civil service will achieve their objectives in contradistinction to their own.

      In the bad old days, Labour was riven with disputes on which parts of the economy should be allowed to remain in the private sector; now the arguments are in the Tory Party as to how much of our economy should be sacrificed on the alter of the entirely dishonest Net Zero and whether such a sacrifice would have any real impact on the climate.

      There needs to be better ways of ensuring that parliament reflects the aspirations of the majority through the ballot box.

      There was never a majority in the country wanting total state control and there never was a majority in favour of mass immigration and there would not be a majority supporting Net Zero if they understood the dire consequences of such a policy for the country.

      1. Nottingham Lad Himself
        February 10, 2022

        There wouldn’t have been a majority wanting war with Germany in 1939 either, nor the privatisation of our utilities etc. in the 1980s and 1990s.

  17. Stephen Reay
    February 10, 2022

    Its one thing producing more gas , but is there anything in place to say it will remain in this country and will the prices be the same before the extortionate increases. If not can’t see any real benefit other than the producers making more money at our expense.

    Reply The gas will be landed in the U.K. by pipe. Most likely to be bought by those using the U.K. pipe network to sell to U.K. consumers. Limited capacity to ship it out of U.K.

    1. Andy
      February 10, 2022

      Any gas extracted here is unlikely to stay here. The extractors are private companies – they are in it for the money. If they can sell for a higher price abroad they clearly will.

      This is basic market forces. Tories love a market because it makes their mates rich.

      Sadly most Britons can’t afford the prices. I can but then I voted Remain.

      1. Mickey Taking
        February 10, 2022

        we are getting tired at your boast that you can afford x,y,z ….I hope the budget hammers you.

      2. Peter2
        February 11, 2022

        But if the UK increased supply into that market overall prices would fall.
        And we wouldn’t be so dependent on world market prices.
        In America prices are several times lower that here.

      3. Original Richard
        February 11, 2022

        Andy : “Any gas extracted here is unlikely to stay here.”

        That will be up to the civil servants at BEIS as surely they will want to legislate to keep the gas in the UK, not to reduce gas prices, which they want to increase (Net Zero Strategy P22), nor to help with our balance of payments, but for the more important reason that UK gas has lower CO2 emissions than imported gas?

    2. Mark B
      February 10, 2022

      And is being extracted by an Israeli company.

  18. The Prangwizard
    February 10, 2022

    What is ‘Boris” definition of soon? Like his promise to impliment article 16 in Northern Ireland? He’s been promising that that months and he is asked almost every week.

    He can’t be trusted. He will only act if his job is threatened.

  19. Bryan Harris
    February 10, 2022

    When it takes pressure from many areas, and a dash of reality creeping in for government to do the sensible thing, it reflects badly on those making the decisions — Why didn’t they see the potential disaster looming, like so many others could?

    Why were they prepared to sacrifice us to their inept dawdling when so much was at stake?

    Ah yes, that noble excuse known as Net-Zero – It will yet allow for so many other irrational policies to be executed.

  20. agricola
    February 10, 2022

    I too am happy that our own resources are to be used and hope this is only the begining. I further hope that the product will be used to supply UK needs and not to enhance the profits of the big players by allowing them to sell it on the open market.
    It would help everyones understanding if you could lay out a full financial explanation of how the market works. Start with the oil and gas in our territorial waters. What rights do a drilling company have in their allotted area. Who owns the fuel extracted. What freedom does the extractor have to sell that fuel. Does the UK get first option on that fuel. Who or what controls the price. Answers to all the above would give your readers a much better understanding of the current situation in the UK.

  21. Javelin
    February 10, 2022

    There is something very worrying that civil servants are blocking the successful use of British energy supplies. This is more than just a few eco looks in the business department. I would be pulling in MI5 and MI6 to ask about these civil servants and their relatives finances.

    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      February 10, 2022

      I think that they might have a more urgent job looking into the finances of the Tory Party on that basis, Jav.

      1. Mickey Taking
        February 11, 2022

        What is urgent about it? Do you know we are about to have a General Election and spend is key?

        1. Nottingham Lad Himself
          February 11, 2022

          Urgent if you care about not subverting a democracy that is, not about winning elections.

          1. Mickey Taking
            February 11, 2022

            It seemed to me the EU and sympathisers of which you and Andy are two, had much more to do with subverting democracy than someone handing over £tens of thousands in one gesture when tens of thouands hand it over in small denominations – union political fees.
            Nothing urgent has been happening – it has been a slow painful torture for most, excepting the one who breaks down in unhinged laughter.

  22. majorfrustration
    February 10, 2022

    Now that Covid appears to be behind us why not replace those stats with stats based upon Conservative promises compared to promises implemented. Whilst its great about new gas licenses but when are the voters going to see some benefit and who will take responsibility for the present energy shambles.

  23. Walt
    February 10, 2022

    Evidence of progress, Sir John. You argued cogently for it and, although I have not seen any recognition from HMG that it was your words that spurred them to action, probably we can assume it to be so or at least to be contributory. So, well done and please press on. We need these fields operational and we need more common sense measures.

  24. miami.mode
    February 10, 2022

    This smacks of panic in government about gas prices if it is scrapping some of its green credentials. It’s so simple – increase the supply and the price will fall.

    1. glen cullen
      February 10, 2022

      Simple and effective

    2. Mark B
      February 11, 2022

      That and remove VAT and the Green subsidies.

  25. John Miller
    February 10, 2022

    It’s good to see the law of unintended consequences producing a good effect.

    Partygate solving the energy crisis. Who’da thunk it!

  26. ChrisS
    February 10, 2022

    While these are a very welcome change of direction, none of these fields is big enough to make a tremendous difference. I read that all six fields given the go ahead will deliver less than the energy needed to supply the UK for 6 months.

    There were lots of areas of the North Sea that were not developed because the cost of extraction was greater than the amount that the energy produced could be sold for. That must have now changed and it seems very unlikely that the price of gas will ever return to the levels it was at before the pandemic.

    At, say, half of the current price, what is the potential amount of gas that could be economically extracted from the British areas of the North Sea ?

    That would be a good question to ask the experts.

    1. Mark B
      February 11, 2022

      Not true. The Abigail field has enough for 8 years. I’d give you a link, which was in my previous post, but SJR deleted it. Apparently I need to use my own words. A rule that only seems to apply to me and no one else !

      1. ChrisS
        February 11, 2022

        I don’t beleive that this is the case, Mark : I found this quote on a web site :
        “Climate campaigners object to the Abigail field, which will be developed by Israeli owned Ithaca Energy, because its diminutive gas reserves will do little to help secure the UK’s energy supplies while contributing to carbon emissions.”
        And another :
        “Production from the Abigail conventional oil development project is expected to begin in 2022 and is forecast to peak in 2023, to approximately 3,573 bpd of crude oil and condensate and 7 Mmcfd of natural gas. Based on economic assumptions, the production will continue until the field reaches its economic limit in 2029.”

        1. Original Richard
          February 11, 2022

          ChrisS :

          I can believe our Net Zero civil servants would pick a field with very limited potential.

  27. alan jutson
    February 10, 2022

    Blimey is this a pandemic of common sense that is starting to break out in the Governments thinking at last.

    Some good news but I will not hold my breath just yet.

    Thanks for you continuing to push forward sensible ideas John.

  28. George Brooks.
    February 10, 2022

    Both Kwarteng and Hands need to be replaced PDQ. Both are very bright academically but neither have any worthwhile relevant experience in business or industry so one wonders how they got selected in the first place!

    Many departments in Whitehall have joined forces with their regulators, advisors and quangos to delay or kill any Brexit opportunity and I think the PM is, at last, beginning to understand the strength and determination of this 5th column in the Westminster bubble.

    The stage-managed charade of yet another ”party-gate” photo in the middle of PMQs is a clear illustration of this totally undemocratic under-current in Westminster, damaging this country’s progress and their unrelenting attack on the PM, in the belief that if they can get rid of Boris they will be able to reverse Brexit.

    I hope Rees-Mogg will define the path ahead, identify the departments dragging their feet and get more ministers in place with the right background so that we start to make some real progress. The clock is running with less than two years to go!!

  29. Javelin
    February 10, 2022

    I have been involved in setting up DNA/RNA drugs for clinical trials for rare diseases. It was taking a decades or more to check these drugs were safe. Now Just as I predicted before the vaccines had started to roll out there would be a lot of problems introducing an RNA based drugs. I’ve had my vaccinations but now think that was a big risk I should not have taken.

    A new report lists 1000 peer reviewed published studies listing medical problems with RNA vaccines.

    Search the internet for “ 1000 Peer Reviewed Studies Questioning Covid-19 Vaccine Safety”

    1. Mickey Taking
      February 10, 2022

      You agreed to Pfizer -initial jabs, or as a third booster?

    2. Mark B
      February 11, 2022

      Javelin

      The bottom line is, your still with us and that is all that is important right now.

      We live and we learn. And I hope you, and many, many other people have learnt never to trust governments again.

  30. Sea_Warrior
    February 10, 2022

    You need to check ‘Order Order’ for the latest news of this execrable government’s war on our gas reserves. Johnson has to go!

  31. Keith from Leeds
    February 10, 2022

    Hello Sir John,
    Delighted to see some common sense at last from our government. But can you pin them down to a time scale. Why “soon”, why not now! As good as this news is can I make the simple point that we only need nuclear power stations to provide all our energy. Why are we building & paying for two systems to provide power when we only need one. Wind & solar will always be unreliable, anyone remember 1948 & 1963 for example when the wind did not blow for weeks in the depths of winter? Let’s use all sources of energy here in the UK & offshore while we build a national nuclear power system that will work in all weathers & cope with any level of demand!

  32. glen cullen
    February 10, 2022

    This government is all smoke & mirrors
    What of the Lancashire gas fracking fields and the new North Sea gas exploration fields…nothing
    The green revolution, the climate change act and the policy of net-zero are all still on track ….along with higher and higher domestic energy costs

  33. William Long
    February 10, 2022

    A step forward perhaps, but the corresponding step back is that I see Cuadrilla has been ordered to ‘Plug and abandon’ its wells at Preston New Road.

  34. Nig l
    February 10, 2022

    I look forward to an equally negative post tomorrow about closing down on shore.

    You very quickly puff up a very modest increase in our own production when the people you keep in power ignore the umpteen times more capacity provided by fracking.

    I guess your post was meant to be ironic.

    1. Mark B
      February 11, 2022

      The Abigail field was approved on the 1st February and is to be exploited by an Israeli company. Yesterday was obviously a slow news day.

  35. DOM
    February 10, 2022

    Will John Redwood MP publicly condemn the OGA and its Net Zero fascism who it seems are pandering to their destructive green ideology at the expense of real peoples livelihoods?

    No, of course he won’t because that just ain’t the party line

    We need ONSHORE AND OFFSHORE gas exploration and development

    Condemn the destructive OGA and demand reform of this cretinous Quango

    1. glen cullen
      February 10, 2022

      I agree and also assert my condemnation of the Oil & Gas Authority, Climate Change Committee, Net-Zero and this Tories Green Revolution

    2. Mark B
      February 11, 2022

      Look on the brightside. When we have outlawed both oil and gas there will be no need for these people.

      Talk about doing yourself, and others, out of a job !

  36. Atlas
    February 10, 2022

    Yes Sir John,

    It is a first step back to sanity.

  37. Sakara Gold
    February 10, 2022

    Sunak is grovelling to the fossil fuel lobby on the far right of the party in the hope that they will vote for him in the forthcoming leadership election. If any of the putative new oil and gas fields were economically viable, they would have been developed already. Licencing is one thing, but when Sunak receives the tremendous subsidy demands from the oil majors – and realises they will also demand the current high price for the products – the hydrocarbons will stay under the N Sea where they belong

    Good news on the fracking front. The Oil and Gas Authority has instructed Cuadrilla, the gas production company, to press ahead with “plugging and abandoning” its wells at the Preston New Road site in Lancashire. Wait for the howls of protest from the deeply entrenched fossil fuel lobby in parliament.

    1. Peter2
      February 10, 2022

      It’s going to be consumers who give out howls of protest when future prices of energy go rapidly up.
      We have enough energy resources via fracking to keep the UK supplied with gas for decades.
      Importing isn’t green.

    2. Original Richard
      February 10, 2022

      Sakara Gold : “If any of the putative new oil and gas fields were economically viable, they would have been developed already. Licencing is one thing, but when Sunak receives the tremendous subsidy demands from the oil majors – and realises they will also demand the current high price for the products – the hydrocarbons will stay under the N Sea where they belong.”

      The Oil & Gas Authority Chairman, Tim Eggar, wrote today (10/02) on their website and as an op-ed in the Daily Telegraph :

      “Disinformation about so-called government “subsidies” for oil and gas firms continued to spread, even after a High Court judgment made clear that industry receives nothing of the sort. The sector has contributed £375 billion in production taxes, to date, and supports about 200,000 jobs.”

    3. Mark B
      February 11, 2022

      So you don’t drive a car or heat your home or use electricity to power that PC you use for the internet ?

      All use fossil fuels.

      That makes you a hypocrite !

  38. Rhoddas
    February 10, 2022

    Right on the money Sir J, really like the UK business case aspects for improving our balance of payments, more jobs and increased tax take, whilst reducing the CO2 miles caused by imports 🙂 No wonder Rishi made contact with Kwasi, thank you!

    Please keep pushing BEIS as we also need reinstating a strategic gas/oil storage (Rough etc) and other fields approved like Cambo. Can the argument be made “if we produce our own oil/gas to match demand, prices will fall back to current levels” to help beleaguered consumers?
    Please press too for a clear well defined nuclear plan for base load.

    Honestly I find it incredible you and the true good people of this site are having to make the case for what are just commonsense policies…. why are we paying so many Ministers and officials for their such damaging actions? The shocking outcome is 54% increase in energy bills (plus even more to come in October) precided by many energy companies going bust. This must surely concentrate their minds to act decisively to mitigate this and start immediately. Heads must roll too…

  39. Wokinghamite
    February 10, 2022

    Labour’s suggestion of a windfall tax on oil companies is a bad idea. At the present time we want to encourage those companies to invest.

    1. glen cullen
      February 10, 2022

      We have Tory lunacy followed by Labour’s lunacy….’will no one rid me of these turbulent priests’

    2. alan jutson
      February 11, 2022

      +1

  40. Beecee
    February 10, 2022

    Not all good news though: I read today that the Oil and Gas Authority has ordered Cuadrilla permanently to seal the two Shale test wells, 5% of the available gas there being enough to make the UK self sufficient for the next 25 years and with significantly less carbon pollution than that being imported.

    I also heard the PM yesterday say that extracting Shale gas was a not going to happen!

    Is Boris really this stupid?

    1. The Prangwizard
      February 11, 2022

      ‘Boris’ is dangerous; he is a ‘green’ authoritarian fanatic. He cares nothing about the country or its people. He is seeking personal glory and of course needs to keep his wife.

  41. Everhopeful
    February 10, 2022

    Oh dear!
    They wheeled John Major onto Sky News.
    He virtually denied that democracy is based on a majority ( of any size) vote!
    I now see how ESSENTIAL it is to keep poor Boris!!

    1. hefner
      February 10, 2022

      What did Sir John (M) say that makes you say ‘he virtually denied that democracy is based on a majority vote’?
      Please read (again?) his contribution and please point out where he denied that democracy is based on majority. See johnmajorarchive.org.uk , 10 February 2022 , Speech at the Institute for Government.
      Thanks a lot in advance.

      Or is it that you have not heard his full speech nor read the full transcript and, as I fear, have been relying on your favourite website to have your mind made for you about what Sir John said?

      1. graham1946
        February 11, 2022

        We don’t need lectures on democracy of any sort from a man who rammed through Parliament on a 3 line whip the Masatricht treaty with no thought at all of consulting the voters whose lives would be changed forever by it, simply because he personally is an EU zealot.

  42. glen cullen
    February 10, 2022

    Breaking News not on Mainstream Media
    ‘The government’s Oil & Gas Authority has ordered Cuadrilla to permanently seal the two shale gas wells drilled at the Lancashire shale exploration site, with the result that the 37.6 trillion cubic metres of gas located in the northern Bowland Shale gas formation will continue to sit unused – when just 10% of this volume could meet UK gas needs for 50 years.’ Source Guido
    Taking the above at face value, is it unreasonable to suggest such actions are tantamount to treason

    1. Everhopeful
      February 10, 2022

      +1
      In 2013 Cameron said that if just 10% of known Bowland reserves could be extracted it would provide 51 years of the UK’s total gas requirements.
      All thrown away for fear of a few lefty anarchists!

      1. Mark B
        February 11, 2022

        Lefty anarchists I tried to highlight.

        1. glen cullen
          February 11, 2022

          Lefty anarchists in this Tory government

    2. hefner
      February 12, 2022

      The ODA/Cuadrilla news was on the Yahoo, Daily Mail, Guardian, and Independent websites on 10/02. I did not check but I guess it must have been on the Telegraph, Express, ES websites as well.
      But I guess it helps you feel special, doesn’t it?

  43. Julian Flood
    February 10, 2022

    The Bowland Hodder shale extends from the North Sea right across the Midlands and out into the Irish Sea. Oil and gas are found in the North Sea and in the Irish Sea. While my qualifications to judge are non-existent, I can see no reason why the Midland shale should not yield the same fossil fuel harvest as offshore. The opposition to onshore fracking should be addressed by treating those effected with understanding and generosity.

    I have been helping the Say No To Sunnica villages group (West Suffolk and East Cambs constituencies) which are threatened by a solar ‘farm’ of 2,500 acres with battery storage areas which, if lithium ion batteries are used (with fire/explosion risks some say Ed)and (might Ed) emit hydrofluoric acid vapour etc ed. For years the inadequate rural roads will be destroyed by the HGVs rumbling through the villages carrying the million solar panels and then for forty years the voters will have to live among the glaring vista of high tech glass. All this to provide an average of 50 – 60 MW — just north of Thetford we’ve got a biomass power station (locally known as the chicken poo factory) which provides nearly half that and occupies a handful of acres in the forest. A fracked gas production well occupies a dozen acres and provides much more energy 24/7/365.

    Some people have the nerve to accuse Say No To Sunnica as being nimbies.

    JF
    (My personal wish would be to see the Nottingham Widmerpool Gulf brought into production, not just because the shale there is kilometres thick but because of the name.)

    1. glen cullen
      February 10, 2022

      +1

  44. Mark
    February 10, 2022

    I see the OGA has given instructions to plug the Cuadrilla Bowland shale wells. What they give with one hand they take away with the other.

  45. Denis Cooper
    February 10, 2022

    Off topic, Lord Dodds writes about the continuation of EU control over state subsidies in Northern Ireland:

    https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/opinion/lord-dodds-northern-ireland-will-miss-out-on-flexible-uk-approach-to-state-aid-due-to-the-ni-protocol-3562008

    “The Subsidy Control Bill currently going through Parliament doesn’t sound very exciting but it is another example of where the Northern Ireland Protocol has the potential to cause real damage to Northern Ireland’s economy over the medium to long term.”

    “Under the UK scheme, things will be automatically approved unless specifically prohibited. In Northern Ireland, we are subject to EU rules, under which everything is prohibited unless approved.”

    But to be honest I think he should stop complaining and just accept that the interests of Northern Ireland and its people have been sacrificed for the good of the rest of us in the UK, who will be immeasurably better off thanks to Boris Johnson’s “fantastic” trade deal with the EU, worth 30% of our GDP:

    https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2021/12/11/advisers-advise-ministers-decide/#comment-1283033

    “Well, last Christmas Eve Boris Johnson went on TV and told us that his “Canada style” trade deal with the EU was worth £660 billion, which would work out as about 30% of our GDP. Clearly we could not easily afford to lose such a “fantastic” trade deal, but then of course luckily it is only another of his fantasies.

    The EU estimates that the trade deal is worth forty times less than that, 0.75% of GDP … ”

    When are the “Conservative and Unionist” MPs going to do something about this?

    1. Denis Cooper
      February 10, 2022

      https://www.politico.eu/article/eus-move-to-take-uk-to-court-fuels-brexiteers-arguments/

      “EU move to take UK to court fuels Brexiteers’ arguments”

      “Brussels takes London to top EU court over Romanian state aid scheme amid sensitive Northern Ireland talks.”

      “But Frost, a long-time opponent to the supremacy of the CJEU, hit back by saying the Commission’s move was “proof as to why it is not safe to live under European Court of Justice jurisdiction, in Northern Ireland or anywhere else.””

    2. Mark B
      February 11, 2022

      Again !

      You told me that you deleted my post because you wanted it in my own words. Now we get, again, another post that is off topic, with links, and text largely written elsewhere.

  46. Stred
    February 10, 2022

    Just when the need for natural gas has never been greater and fracking wells in Bowland Shale have been drilled and could be brought into use, the head of the Oil and Gas Authority has ordered the company to seal the wells, making them very difficult to bring back into use. The head of the authority is retiring in December. Johnson refused to accept Mogg’s suggestion to start fracking again, no doubt following the green friends and relatives. Would it not be a very good idea to immediately close this quango, sack its head and get rid of the green ministers in the energy dept and Lord Greencrap himself?

    1. glen cullen
      February 10, 2022

      ‘’ the head of the Oil and Gas Authority has ordered’’
      Carrie orders Boris, who orders the The Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng MP Secretary of State, who orders the civil servants of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), who orders the Oil & Gas Authority quango to order Cuadrilla to stop fracking
      (I wonder when Jacob Rees-Mogg MP Minister of State for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency knew)

  47. XY
    February 10, 2022

    I’m wondering if you may have missed this on Guido:

    https://order-order.com/2022/02/10/governments-oil-gas-authority-orders-abandonment-of-37-6-trillion-cubic-metres-of-onshore-gas/

    Quote:

    “… the government’s Oil & Gas Authority … has ordered Cuadrilla to permanently seal the two shale gas wells drilled at the Lancashire shale exploration site, with the result that the 37.6 trillion cubic metres of gas located in the northern Bowland Shale gas formation will continue to sit unused – when just 10% of this volume could meet UK gas needs for 50 years.”

    Stunning how these lefties have infiltrated our institutions and ministerial policy seems to have not a jot of impact on how they behave.

  48. Sea_Warrior
    February 11, 2022

    I don’t recall voting for the Oil & Gas Authority at the last general election. Clearly, it has too much power, though we, soon, won’t have.

    1. Mark B
      February 11, 2022

      It is a hangover from our membership of the EU, much like the Environmental Agency. These organisations usually refer to what is being pronounced at a higher level. Leaving the EU should mean that these QUANGO’s should be taken in house where they can be better monitored.

      https://www.eea.europa.eu/

      1. Sea_Warrior
        February 11, 2022

        Good point. I would suggest that control over energy output should be very firmly in the hands of a minister rather than in the hands of an appointee.

  49. glen cullen
    February 11, 2022

    Macron has announced today that France will build six new nuclear reactors, all while Britain pumps money into unreliable wind and solar. Macron said “The time of nuclear renaissance has come,” as he announced the plans.

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