US President Donald Trump has reignited debate over the future of the North Sea oil and gas industry, using his social media platform to call on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to abandon renewable energy expansion and instead back “modernised drilling” with Aberdeen as the sector’s hub.
Trump, who owns a golf course in Aberdeenshire and has a long history of opposing local wind farm developments, posted:
“I strongly recommend to them, however, that in order to get their Energy Costs down, they stop with the costly and unsightly windmills, and incentivise modernised drilling in the North Sea, where large amounts of oil lay waiting to be taken. A century of drilling left, with Aberdeen as the hub. The old fashioned tax system disincentivises drilling, rather than the opposite. UK’s energy costs would go way down, and fast!”
Trump’s comments come just days after the UK and US signed a new trade deal, and as the UK government maintains its commitment to net zero targets by 2050, including a moratorium on new North Sea drilling licences.
Scottish First Minister John Swinney said Trump’s remarks were “no surprise,” but insisted the Scottish Government is “absolutely committed” to its net zero targets. Swinney told PA Media:
“I do not think it’s a surprise that Donald Trump believes and says what he says about energy issues. I think we’re all quite familiar with his line of argument – but from the Scottish government’s point of view, we’ve given a commitment to get to net zero, and we’re going to see that commitment through.”
Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie MSP was more direct, urging the UK government to ignore Trump’s call:
“Donald Trump’s dangerous ideas must be ignored. Climate breakdown already costs the average Scottish household over £3,000 a year. Failure to tackle the climate emergency would accelerate the damage, and keep people dependent on volatile energy prices.”
From the Scottish Conservatives, shadow energy and net zero secretary Douglas Lumsden accused Labour and the SNP of “turning their backs on Scotland’s oil and gas industry,” arguing:
“We still need oil and gas for our energy needs, so it is common sense to be producing it here in Scotland, rather than importing it from abroad. At Holyrood it is only the Scottish Conservatives under Russell Findlay’s leadership who are standing up for highly skilled workers and recognising the sector’s huge importance to our energy security.”
Labour’s Scottish energy minister Michael Shanks, however, reaffirmed the government’s position:
“Issuing new licences for exploration will make only a very marginal difference to actual output from the North Sea. It is a super mature basin, it is a declining basin – it’s becoming more difficult and expensive to extract from the North Sea. The future in the long-term of the North Sea is not oil and gas. We have to now ramp up the industries that come next that deliver those good well-paid jobs.”
Oil and gas workers in Aberdeen have recently expressed fears of a “cliff edge” for their livelihoods as the energy transition accelerates
However, industry experts and campaigners have challenged Trump’s claim that the North Sea has “a century of drilling left”, with analysis suggesting most accessible oil and gas has already been extracted, with future production expected to decline sharply by 2050.
Trump’s intervention has reignited an already heated debate in Scotland about the pace and direction of the energy transition, with Aberdeen and the North Sea at its heart. While some Scottish political voices echo his call for continued oil and gas production, the Scottish Government and Greens remain firmly committed to net zero targets and the expansion of renewables.
