SIR IAN WOOD has claimed Labour’s North Sea oil and gas strategy could threaten tens of thousands of jobs.
The leading Aberdeen entrepreneur is now urging the party’s leader Sir Keir Starmer to visit the Granite City to meet with business leaders as an “immediate priority”.
He described Labour’s controversial plan to ban future hydrocarbon licences as “very concerning”.
Energy Voice says Sir Ian’s remarks came after Sir Keir’s visit to Scotland yesterday to officially launch the party’s green energy strategy.
Sir Ian described Labour’s ambition to make the UK a clean energy superpower as “laudable”, but he thinks a ban on future oil and gas drilling would have an adverse impact.
He said: “The suggested ban on future oil and gas licences is very concerning and economically and environmentally damaging.
The Conservatives alleged yesterday that the plans will cost the UK £87billion in lost revenue.
“It makes absolutely no sense to reduce our reliance on domestic oil and gas production, only to increase imports from overseas and place in jeopardy tens of thousands of jobs and yet this is exactly what will happen if this approach is taken.
“What we need is a managed and just transition that protects jobs and that should prioritise supporting our oil and gas industry to make the investments required that will in turn help us accelerate toward new and green energies.
“I urge Sir Keir to reflect on the adverse impact this policy will have on one of the UK’s most successful and globally-recognised industries and encourage him to visit Aberdeen to meet with business leaders as an immediate priority so we can chart a more pragmatic course – one that ensures we achieve maximum energy and economic security toward meeting net-zero targets.”
Sir Ian has also joined calls to base Labour’s promised new headquarters for a publicly-owned energy company, GB Energy, in Aberdeen – saying it would make “perfect sense”.
Yesterday’s green energy strategy launch took place in Edinburgh, as opposed to Aberdeen, the energy capital of Europe, where tens of thousands of jobs rely on oil and gas.
Asked about the choice of location, Sir Keir deferred to Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar who said: “The promise I want to make to colleagues in Aberdeen and the people who work in our oil and gas sector is this is a plan that is for you and we will work with you to deliver.
“This is not a plan that is bad for Aberdeen. I am confident it is good for Aberdeen, it’s good news for the North-east, for Scotland and every part of the UK.”
Sir Keir Starmer confirmed last month that he will head to Aberdeen to engage with the oil and gas sector. He accepted an invitation from Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce to visit the North-east to hear directly from the people and companies impacted by the energy transition.
Commenting after yesterday’s green energy strategy launch, chamber policy director Ryan Crighton, said: “Labour’s big ambition on renewables, grid infrastructure and de-risking new technologies is hugely welcome. We fully support both the scale and direction of its ambition on these crucial issues.
“However, it is completely overshadowed by a position on oil and gas which is not grounded in the realities of the energy transition and will drive away the very companies they want to partner with to make the UK a clean energy superpower.
“Their failure to meaningfully engage with the people, companies and regions delivering the energy transition is evident in this naive policy, which has now placed jobs, investment and energy security at risk.
“It is an irrefutable fact that oil and gas will remain a key component of our energy mix into and beyond 2050, so an energy plan that is cognisant of that is essential.
“We believe all parties, including Labour, should adopt an explicit position on hydrocarbons – which is that if the alternative is importing oil and gas from overseas, at a greater carbon cost, then we must favour domestic production.
“It’s simple, it’s measurable, and it ensures that the fossil fuels that we do use are extracted with minimum impact on our climate goals.
“We again urge Labour to work with us, with industry and with the unions, to make its energy strategy a prospectus for growth; a plan which will herald the beginning of a new era of global energy capital status for Scotland and the UK. That should include locating GB Energy in Aberdeen.
“The alternative path – one with a cliff-edge end to oil and gas – will decree decades of decline upon the regions which have powered the UK through the toughest of times. We simply cannot allow that to happen.”
