Saudi East-West Oil Pipeline

Lord Moynihan Excerpts

Thursday 17th September 2026 Lords Chamber

The pipeline enables Saudi crude oil to bypass the Strait of Hormuz. Since the start of the Middle East conflict, it has been used to reroute a significant share of exports. This temporary pause comes at a time of rising prices, and I know that many in this House and the public will be worried about the potential impacts. Fuel supplies to the UK have remained resilient since the start of the conflict. As people across the country would expect, the Government will mitigate where possible the potential impacts on our economy and our domestic security. We will continue to work closely with industry and the devolved Governments on detailed contingency planning for all events. We are working tirelessly with our international partners to find a permanent solution to the conflict and to minimise the knock-on impact on households. We will keep looking at what more we can do to insulate families from the effect of rising energy bills”.

[Lord Moynihan (Con)]

My Lords, I declare my interests as chairman of Buckthorn, Amey and Acteon. I will concentrate on fuel prices in the Question. Since UK imports of Saudi oil stand at 2.5% of our total oil imports and the UK’s share of overall Middle Eastern gas supply is well under 1%, why are our domestic electricity bills predicted to be £300 more per annum from January next year—a distant £600 more than the promised reduction in the Labour Party manifesto—when wholesale electricity prices, the only element which gas heavily influences, contribute just 38% of our domestic bills? Would the Minister not agree that one way to reduce bills is to remove the clean power 2030 policy costs, which are fleecing British consumers in the Government’s headlong rush to net zero and decarbonisation of Britain’s electricity generation by 2030, which everyone knows will not be achieved, and will continue massively to impede household and industrial affordability?