(Brent North) (Lab):...The
logic of drilling for more when the world has already more than
it can safely burn is that of the myopic salesman, not the
visionary politician, or to use the Prime Minister’s words, it is
the logic of the zealot. The Government’s actions are already
making the UK a less attractive place for green investment. Three
quarters of all North sea oil and gas operators currently invest
nothing at all in UK renewables. The largest operator, Harbour
Energy, has ruled out such clean investment altogether, yet last
year the five oil super-majors—BP, Shell
Chevron, ExxonMobil and TotalEnergies—rewarded their investors
with record payouts of more than £79 billion, so we know the
money is there to do it...
(Coventry South) (Lab):...If
the Bill is not about energy bills, energy security or tackling
the climate crisis, what is it about? The answer is simple. It is
about maximising profit for fossil fuel giants, guaranteeing that
they can extract every last bit of oil and gas, no matter the
consequence for people and planet. These companies are the last
that need our support. As energy bills soared last year—our
constituents know that reality far too well—BP’s global profits
hit £23 billion. Shell reported
its highest ever profits: a whopping £32 billion. This year, the
world’s five biggest oil companies are expected to hand investors
more than £80 billion. Record bills for my Coventry South
constituents have meant record profits for fossil fuel
giants.
Eye-watering North sea oil and gas profits are not an accident,
but by design. They are aided and abetted by Government choices.
The Government’s North sea tax and subsidy regime is so skewed in
the interests of fossil fuel companies that for
years Shell and BP got
away with paying zero tax on North sea production. It is so
rigged in these companies’ interests that the company developing
the Rosebank oil field will get a £3 billion tax break to develop
the site, meaning our constituents will pay 91% of the cost of
developing it. The public pays the costs, the company creams off
the profits and then we all face the consequence of its
climate-wrecking activity. And there is no doubt about that,
because the science is clear: developing new oil and gas fields
is incompatible with our climate commitments...
To read the whole debate, OPEN HERE
