Senior figures from a raft of energy giants will meet with Grant Shapps today to lay out plans for investing over £100 billion in the coming years.
Accelerating the UK’s shift to renewables and job creation will also be high on the agenda when the energy security secretary hosts representatives from the likes of BP and Shell.
It comes hot on the heels of Rishi Sunak pledge earlier this week to “max out” the North Sea’s oil and gas reserves.
On the same day he also announced long-awaited funding for a two major carbon capture and storage clusters, including Aberdeenshire’s Acorn project.
BP (LON: BP) and Shell (LON: SHEL) will be joined at today’s summit by figures from SSE (LON: SSE) and EDF – collectively the companies have multi-billion pound plans to invest in low and zero-carbon projects.
© PAThere are hopes that such schemes will generate and support thousands of jobs across the UK, while also helping to reduce energy bills and reduce emissions.
By the middle of the next decade the government wants the UK to have the lowest wholesale electricity prices in Europe.
Cracking down on protests at energy infrastructure
For his part Mr Shapps plans to outline state measures to protect domestic energy supplies from disruption, both at home and abroad.
That includes restrictions to protect “critical energy infrastructure” from disruptive protests, and comes in the wake of activists several key facilities, such as the Grangemouth refinery.
Westminster’s controversial Public Order Act now includes a new criminal offence of interfering with national infrastructure.
While the aim is to stop disruption at key sites, the bill has been described by many as draconian, and there are concerns it will harshly restrict people’s right to peaceful protest.
© Supplied by Climate Camp ScotlanMr Shapps said: “We need to send the message loud and clear to the likes of Putin that we will never again be held to ransom with energy supply. The companies I am meeting in Downing Street today will be at the heart of that.
“Energy industry leaders can see that this Government will back home-grown, secure energy – whether that’s renewables, our revival in nuclear, or our support for our vital oil and gas industry in the North Sea.
“But it is a sad reality that we also need to protect our critical national infrastructure from disruptive protests. Today I’ll be setting out what we are doing to achieve this and want to hear from the energy companies the vital work they are doing in this area.”
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