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Is the UK finally closing the door on new oil and gas exploration in the North Sea? According to Tessa Khan, Executive Director of Uplift, yes! A corner has been turned and now the UK government has announced a ban on new oil and gas exploration licensing. Khan unpacks the myths around how new drilling will lower energy bills, as well as securing our energy independence, and why even with this news we must keep the pressure on the government to deal with pending projects like the Rosebank and Cambo oil fields. Finally Tessa discusses future plans and the importance of ensuring that the communities around these fossil fuel sites are supported as they pivot to the growing offshore wind industry.
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Created by TEDxLondon
Executive produced by Josie Colter
Produced by Ben Beheshty
Curated by Deesha Chandra
Hosted by Maryam Pasha and Ben Hurst
Communications by Tara Cooper and Issey Gladston
00:00 Introduction
01:57 Implications for existing oil fields
03:35 Public pressure and climate movement victories
05:07 Challenges and future focus
05:58 Ensuring a fair transition
06:55 Conclusion
[00:00:00] Introduction
[00:00:00] Maryam Pasha: Welcome to Climate Quickies Bite-sized nuggets of Climate Goodness. From our TEDxLondon experts in under five minutes
[00:00:08] Ben Hurst: in this week’s climate Curious, we are celebrating a historic headline that the UK is banning new [00:00:15] oil and gas exploration. But what does this really mean? Especially for projects like Rosebank and Cambo oil fields that are still pending on why this is a win for ensuring a livable future and how to ensure a fair transition for the [00:00:30] communities that rely on this industry?
[00:00:32] Ben Hurst: Here’s the executive director of uplift. Tessa can’t stay curious.
[00:00:40] Tessa Khan: Hi, my name’s Tessa Khan. I’m the executive director of uplift [00:00:45] and I wanna talk about the fact that there was a historic moment in the UK a couple of weeks ago when the government announced that it would ban new oil and gas exploration licensing.
[00:00:55] Tessa Khan: So the UK is the, is Europe’s second largest oil and gas [00:01:00] producer where a country that extracts about a million barrels of oil and gas a day from the North Sea. And we know that if we’re gonna have a safe climate, we simply cannot afford to add more oil and gas to the existing [00:01:15] oversupply of fossil fuels that exist in the world.
[00:01:18] Tessa Khan: And so. Two weeks ago, the UK government recognizing the climate emergency and the importance of aligning our approach to fossil fuels with that announced that it would no longer [00:01:30] be issuing new licenses to explore for oil and gas in the North Sea, which is the first time a country that is such a large oil and gas producer, such a large economy, has ever done this.
[00:01:41] Tessa Khan: So it means that unlike for the [00:01:45] previous decades where we’ve had almost annual licensing rounds where companies can apply to explore for new oil and gas in the North Sea off the UK’s coast, that that is no longer going to happen.
[00:01:57] Implications for existing oil fields
[00:01:57] Tessa Khan: What the UK government has said is that there are currently hundreds of oil and gas fields that are already producing.
[00:02:04] Tessa Khan: Oil and gas that are employing thousands of people across the country, that those fields will continue to operate and that there will be some limited development of those [00:02:15] fields to kind of extend their lifetime, but that there aren’t gonna be any companies that are allowed to find brand new resources to add them, as I said, to the existing stock power fossil fuels that we can no longer burn.
[00:02:25] Tessa Khan: I think it’s a massive turning point because it’s also about. The [00:02:30] government and us, the public finally confronting the power of the oil and gas industry. So this is an industry that is used to having gotten its way in the UK for so many years to the point that the oil and gas regulators legal [00:02:45] objective was to maximize.
[00:02:46] Tessa Khan: Economic recovery of offshore oil and gas, like that’s been the case right up until now. Despite, you know, the Paris agreement, despite governments recognizing that there’s a climate emergency, finally that’s changed. And the oil and gas industry [00:03:00] recognizes and has been told that the riding is on the wall, that it now has to plan for what comes next.
[00:03:07] Tessa Khan: And most importantly, we have to make sure that the. People who work in that industry, the supply chains, the communities that are [00:03:15] particularly in the northeast of Scotland, that have relied on that industry for their livelihoods for so many years, that they’re taken care of, that you know, the focus now shifts to what comes next and not on continuing to dig ourselves into this hole of more oil and gas.[00:03:30]
[00:03:33] Tessa Khan: This is a victory for the climate movement.
[00:03:35] Public pressure and climate movement victories
[00:03:35] Tessa Khan: You know, this is the result of a huge amount of public pressure that I think really started to escalate. A few years ago, you might remember there was a massive campaign to stop the Cambo oil field, which was successful. There was also a. Call that came from right across the country for there to be a windfall tax on the oil and gas industry.
[00:03:55] Tessa Khan: A few years ago when it was making huge profits and people were struggling to pay their energy bills, [00:04:00] we also succeeded in getting that, you know, this is really about the fact that the government has had. So clearly and so consistently from people all across the country that we cannot have more oil and gas, you know, if we wanna save [00:04:15] climate, that it is not in our interest to continue propping up a declining industry.
[00:04:19] Tessa Khan: And that we’ve got to, as I said, plan for what comes next. And I think we. We’re relieved because it’s, it’s just such a common sense, reasonable decision. You know, this is the kind of [00:04:30] policy making that shouldn’t come as a surprise. As I said, it’s clear that that’s what’s needed in terms of the climate science and making sure we stay within safe climate limits.
[00:04:39] Tessa Khan: More oil and gas in the UK also doesn’t contribute to our energy security because most of what’s left to [00:04:45] drill for is oil and we end up ex. Boarding. The vast majority of that, we know it doesn’t bring down people’s energy bills. We know that jobs in that sector have been declining for years anyway, so, you know, more exploration licensing just doesn’t benefit the public at all.
[00:04:59] Tessa Khan: All it [00:05:00] does is increase the profits of the oil and gas industry. So, you know, we really think that this is a sensible decision by the government, what the government announced.
[00:05:07] Challenges and future focus
[00:05:07] Tessa Khan: A couple of weeks ago is about banning new licenses to explore for oil and gas. So that’s kind of one category of oil and gas projects that will definitely no longer go ahead.
[00:05:19] Tessa Khan: On the other hand, there are some projects that received their exploration licenses many years ago, the Rosebank oil field, the cambo oil field, or examples of those. And they’ve been [00:05:30] waiting for the government to basically give them the final consent to start producing so they’re, they’re not covered by.
[00:05:36] Tessa Khan: The ban that was announced. And so what we now have to do is make sure that the government doesn’t approve those fields. The same arguments apply. [00:05:45] You can’t have a major new oil field, um, in a safe climate. You know, it’s not doing anything for the public. It’s just enriching these oil and gas companies.
[00:05:53] Tessa Khan: So we’ve gotta keep the pressure on to make sure that the government now says no. In particular to the Rosebank oil field.
[00:05:58] Ensuring a fair transition
[00:05:58] Tessa Khan: You know, it’s one thing to manage the decline of these industries because we know that they can’t exist at the scale that they do if we’re gonna stay within safe climate limits.
[00:06:08] Tessa Khan: But it’s just as important to make sure that the people who work in those industries, the communities that have [00:06:15] relied on them, aren’t in any way. Made victims of that transition and that they’re supported. Now, we’re incredibly lucky in the UK that we have this massive offshore wind industry. You know, renewable energy is obviously the path that we need to go [00:06:30] down for a safe climate, for energy security and for affordable energy.
[00:06:33] Tessa Khan: And so what the focus of the government now needs to be on is making sure that people are supported in terms of the skills training that they have. Uh, the pathways that are available to them to [00:06:45] pivot into those alternative industries so that, you know, we make sure that this is a transition that happens, not just in a way that’s good for the climate, but that’s also fundamentally fair.
[00:06:55] Conclusion
[00:06:55] Ben Hurst: Thanks for listening to this quickie.
[00:06:57] Maryam Pasha: This episode was created by our [00:07:00] superstar podcast team at TEDx London. Until next time,
[00:07:03] Ben Hurst: stay curious.
