Oil and Gas: UK Continental Shelf

Lord Goddard of Stockport Excerpts
Monday 18th June 2018

(6 years, 6 months ago)

Lords Chamber
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Lord Henley Portrait Lord Henley
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The noble Lord makes a very important point, which I will certainly pass on to my colleagues in other departments.

Lord Goddard of Stockport Portrait Lord Goddard of Stockport (LD)
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My Lords, I draw attention to my interests in the register; I am a vice-chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the British Offshore Oil and Gas Industry. Does the Minister agree that one way to enhance the recovery of oil and gas from the United Kingdom continental shelf, increase tax revenues and create valuable jobs in the industry—which has lost 150,000 jobs since 2014—would be to focus simply on extended production of late-life fields and promote early development of known proven resources?

Lord Henley Portrait Lord Henley
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The noble Lord is correct: we should do that. As his noble friend said, we should also continue with explorations. There is much that we can do, that the Government are doing and that the industry is doing.