Oral Answers to Questions Debate
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David Duguid
Main Page: David Duguid (Conservative - Banff and Buchan)Department Debates - View all David Duguid's debates with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
(2 years, 11 months ago)
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Greg Hands
The hon. Gentleman will not be surprised to hear that I disagree with him on the independence referendum, but we engage regularly with the Scottish cluster and Acorn, and I met Storegga before Christmas. I have also met with my hon. Friend the Member for Banff and Buchan (David Duguid), the MP for St Fergus, and have been to his constituency recently. Just to be absolutely clear, the Scottish cluster is the reserve cluster, which means that it met the eligibility criteria and performed to a good standard in the evaluation criteria. We also recently published our track 2 update for CCUS, which highlights our increased ambition of capturing and storing 20 to 30 megatonnes per annum by 2030. I think there is a great future there for the Scottish cluster.
David Duguid (Banff and Buchan) (Con)
I welcome the hon. Member for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock (Allan Dorans) back to his place—even though he did kind of trample over my question a little bit. Will my right hon. Friend confirm the UK Government’s support for the oil and gas sector and its vital role in driving the energy transition to net zero? As part of that support, will he confirm what recent engagement he has had with the Acorn CCS project in my constituency of Banff and Buchan on its role as the first reserve cluster?
Greg Hands
As I have mentioned, I met with Storegga before Christmas, and my hon. Friend and I also talked about this in his constituency in early December. I am looking forward to further engagement with the cluster. I also agree with what he said about oil and gas. We have a North sea transition deal, and the important thing is transition. It would be mad, particularly at this time of elevated gas prices, to do anything to close down the North sea, and it is not our objective to do so. Therefore, we should stick to the transition deal, support our key oil and gas sector in the North sea and absolutely reject a lot of the politics coming out of the SNP, which has turned to be anti-North sea, which is not holding Scotland’s best interests at heart.