Great British Energy Bill

Debate between Earl Russell and Lord Hamilton of Epsom

Committee stage
Wednesday 22nd January 2025 Grand Committee

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

Yes, but the fact that a number have gone already because the industry is declining is not a compelling reason for destroying even more, in my view—but I hear what the Minister says.

Of course, this contrasts tremendously with the inaugural address from President Trump, saying, “Drill, baby, drill”. He is quite keen on expanding the oil industry in the United States, which is interesting because he slightly gives the impression that the United States has been rather laggardly in producing oil. I have some quite interesting statistics from the Library that indicate that, throughout the Biden years, despite all the green initiatives that were produced, the United States was actually the biggest producer of oil in the world. In 2020, it produced 11.3 million barrels a day, and in 2023 it produced 12.9 million barrels a day. Of that, it was using about 8 or 9 million barrels for its own consumption and exporting the rest. The idea being put out by the Trump regime that drilling for oil will somehow be a new venture is quite interesting; it has been going on, fit to bust, under the Biden Administration—you slightly wonder how that ties in with all the green credentials that he was boasting about, when they were producing these vast quantities of oil. They were way ahead of the Russians, who were the second-biggest producer of oil, at about 10 million barrels a day.

We are now in an interesting situation, as there seems to be a recognition by the Trump regime that we will go on needing hydrocarbons and oil way into the future. At the end of the day, the idea that we can somehow phase all this out in this country slightly defies credibility because, as we have discussed already, the reserves of oil are higher than they have ever been, and we will go on needing it for quite some time. It is rather extraordinary that we do not produce our own oil in the North Sea for our requirements. As it is, we will have to import it from other places, creating CO₂ emissions and so forth on the way.

[Earl Russell (LD)]

I was listening to what the noble Lord was saying, and the truth is that North Sea oil is declining by 7% a year—which will not change—and that we have the third-best wind resources in the world. North Sea oil will never meet our energy needs and, if we do not find alternative forms of energy, we will be dependent on the international markets, which will mean huge variability, no security and huge cost to our bill payers. Surely the best thing to do is use the third-best renewable resources in the world that we have to back that up with a system that works.

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

I find that an interesting comment because, at the end of the day, wind energy is totally dependent on the feed-in tariffs that end up on everybody’s electricity bills. That is one reason why we are paying such enormous sums of money for electricity at the moment. The idea that wind is somehow a cheap option does not seem to be quite working out.

The broad point is that anybody who looks at the energy demands of this country knows that we will go on needing oil for quite some time to come. It seems extraordinary that we then depend on imports of oil from around the world, with all the CO₂ emissions that go with that, rather than producing our own. I can see no logic in that at all. The production of oil in the North Sea may be declining, but that does not mean that we should not, therefore, give licences to produce more oil from the North Sea if we actually need it in this country. That seems inexplicable when we are importing it from elsewhere.