Scotland wants UK oil licence review: Update

Adds OGUK comment

Scotland's first minister Nicola Sturgeon has asked the UK government to "reassess" oil and gas licences that have already been issued but where development has yet to start.

These include the Cambo field in the west of Shetlands region, where private equity-backed Siccar Point Energy plans to start drilling next year ahead of first oil in 2025.

In a letter to UK prime minister Boris Johnson, Sturgeon called on the UK government to review such licences, issued many years ago in some cases, in light of the UN's latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) climate assessment report. Limiting global warming to close to 1.5°C or even 2°C will be beyond reach unless there are immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, according to the report.

"I am asking that the UK government now commits to significantly enhancing the climate conditionality associated with oil and gas production," Sturgeon said.

The vast majority of the UK's oil and gas is produced in Scottish waters, but energy remains a reserved matter in the UK, and decisions — including licensing, regulation and policy — are taken by the UK parliament. Sturgeon acknowledged how important the oil and gas sector is for the UK and Scottish economies, with the industry supporting just over 100,000 jobs in Scotland alone. But she thinks the country's approach must change.

"Reducing reliance on domestic production of oil and gas, which we must do, without increasing imports — which would potentially increase emissions — depends on the developments of alternatives," she said. "However, the answer to these challenges — given the urgency of the climate emergency — cannot be business as usual."

Sturgeon called for the UK government to go further than its North Sea Transition Deal and its climate compatibility checkpoint for new licences. The latter was announced in March this year, when the UK said it will continue to allow drilling in the North Sea. The North Sea Transition Deal includes the oil and gas sector's commitment to cut production emissions by 10pc by 2025 and by 50pc by 2030, compared with 2018.

Responding to Sturgeon's suggestion that licences be reassessed, lobby group Oil and Gas UK (OGUK) insisted that the industry is committed to helping Scotland and the UK as a whole reach their net zero targets. "Regarding Cambo and other future oil and gas investments, it is already demonstrated in projections by both government and independent agencies that these are compatible with net zero," OGUK energy policy manager Will Webster said. "Overall such new investment will be more than offset by assets entering decommissioning."

Sturgeon has vowed that the Scottish government will continue to use its devolved powers to reduce emissions and meet its climate change targets. The nation has committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2045. This is five years earlier than the 2050 target recommended for the whole of the UK by government advisory body the Committee on Climate Change (CCC). Sturgeon is also asking for a UK four-nation summit to discuss "how we can work together, both in the run up to COP and beyond, to ensure that, individually and collectively, we are providing this clear leadership". Glasgow will host the UN's upcoming COP26 climate summit in November.

The latest IPCC report "must sound a death knell for coal and fossil fuels… Countries should also end all new fossil fuel exploration and production, and shift fossil fuel subsidies into renewable energy," UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said. "I count on government leaders and all stakeholders to ensure COP26 is a success."

By Caroline Varin