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Looks like a sop to the green lobby as new North Sea oil and gas projects have just been approved. But gas will be needed long after 2050 if the UK intends to keep running a modern economy, and security of supply in a competitive world is obviously far greater with more home-produced energy.

By Paul Homewood

With energy price rises about to hammer hard-pressed households across the UK, the Oil and Gas Authority regulator is trying to force onshore gas companies to seal up the shale gas wells they have drilled.

Net Zero Watch is warning that the government’s approach to the energy crisis remains dangerously incoherent. On the one hand, the Prime Minister is openly calling for increased domestic gas extraction and has brought forward approvals for North Sea developments, while at the same time regulators are preventing lower-cost onshore fields from ever being exploited.

Net Zero Watch director Dr Benny Peiser said:

And Net Zero Watch’s Director of Energy Dr John Constable explained that regulators’ remits are making things worse.

https://www.netzerowatch.com/government-needs-to-get-a-grip-on-energy-crisis/

One of the major issues here is that Net Zero has been deliberately placed as an overriding obligation in the OGA’s Strategy:

https://www.ogauthority.co.uk/regulatory-framework/the-oga-strategy/

Although they say they still aim to…