Offshore Oil and Gas: Venting and Flaring

Debate between Lord Whitehead and Lord Hunt of Wirral

Thursday 21st May 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Whitehead (Lab)]

There is a package of new sanctions which are being imposed against Russia as far as their general supplies of oil and gas and various other things on the global market are concerned. The issue I was mentioning a moment ago is one part of that, and that is the phasing in of the sanctions relating to third-party products which arise from refining, which may or may not come from Russian crude oil products.

[Lord Hunt of Wirral (Con)]

But has the Minister not heard the comments of Ukraine’s sanctions commissioner, Vladyslav Vlasiuk, who said—and this is a direct quote—that

“temporary exemptions … may still generate additional revenues for Russia’s war machine”?

What is his answer to the commissioner? While I am on my feet, can I just say that I think it is appalling the way our own petrol refineries are warning that they are at risk of closure due to high carbon taxes? Does the Minister not agree that meeting demand through domestically refined oil products is preferable to financing Putin’s war in Ukraine, and will he commit to reviewing the tax burden which is currently risking our own refineries?

[Lord Whitehead (Lab)]

I think the noble Lord will know that the UK refineries are not able at present to refine exactly what is required as far as a profile of a country’s energy needs are concerned because of the nature of the set-up of those particular refineries and the nature of the crude oil that is coming into those refineries for refining. Therefore, it makes complete sense to ensure that we have a proper profile of imports of various refined products in not just a climate emergency but the present emergency relating to Hormuz, which may not involve UK refineries only. The quote that the noble Lord mentioned is about imports of crude oil from Russia being relaxed to countries across the world—not by the UK but relating to relaxation by other states. The UK is firmly behind the notion that there will not be crude oil coming into the UK from Russia, but the question of refined products is another matter.