Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what preparations they have put in place to deal with any early onset of peak oil.

The UK was the first major economy in the world to legislate for net zero and as we move to a low carbon economy, oil and gas will play a smaller role in meeting the demand for energy over time.

The oil and gas sector has an important part to play now in sustaining our energy security of supply, and in the energy transition to support net zero, having many of the essential skills and capabilities in its world class supply chain to support emerging technologies such as carbon capture and storage, and hydrogen, and through its investment in infrastructure.

We will support this energy transition with a transformational North Sea Transition Deal, which we have committed to deliver within this Parliament. The focus of this deal will be on ensuring the sector can support the energy transition and anchor the supply chain to the UK.

The oil and gas sector supports tens of thousands of high-quality jobs across the UK. Safeguarding these jobs whilst creating new low carbon jobs will be a key consideration of the proposed North Sea Transition Deal.