Cresswell: Methinks the Treasury only half listened
UPDATED 0950 MARCH 15
UPDATED 0950 MARCH 15
Well, here we all are . . . another year dawns over the chill, grey wastes of the ever restless North Sea.
Carbon capture in the UK has been hung out to dry by the Cameron Government via some chancellor’s Autumn Statement fine print issued by the Department of Energy & Climate Change.
One day, it would be great to write something positive about the current UK government in the energy context. But so long as it carries on the way it is, that won’t happen. Last month, I laid into chancellor George Osborne for the nuclear deal cooked up with the Chinese. The sycophantic fawning that occurred during the state visit of Xi Jinping (“Xi Dada”, or Uncle Xi), with yet more major UK opportunities peddled in Beijing’s direction was nothing short of disgusting. Indeed, Osborne, with his haircut reminiscent of the BBC’s casting of “I Claudius” donkey’s years ago and which one is advised signifies power, has rather dominated the energy stage of late.
Balmoral Group yesterday released a third book about the oil industry written by Jeremy Cresswell, editor of the Press and Journal’s Energy supplement.
Exploration drilling in UK waters has collapsed and shows no sign of recovery either now or in the near future. This is dangerous because the dramatic slowdown of recent years will lead to a development famine in around five years time, Offshore Europe delegates have been warned. And, far more oil & gas is being extracted from the North Sea than is being found.
I wasn’t going to write about the North Sea in this month’s eye. Rather, I was contemplating having a go at offshore wind, in large part because of the manner in which the UK’s unquestionably leading offshore presence in terms of turbines planted out there in UK territorial waters has been achieved.