Kemi Badenoch speech: Conservatives to end ban on Oil & Gas licences & promotion

Today [Tuesday 2^nd September 2025] Kemi Badenoch MP, Leader of the Conservative Party, will pledge a series of new measures to unlock our Oil & Gas industry. 

Speaking at the Society of Petroleum Engineers Offshore Europe conference in Aberdeen, Kemi Badenoch will set out that the next Conservative government will: 

• End Labour's ban on new Oil & Gas licences, freeing the industry to explore and extract  
• Reverse the ban on providing “financial or promotional support for the fossil fuel energy sector overseas” and allow UK Export Finance and trade networks to finance and promote our domestic Oil & Gas sector and their technologies abroad. 
• Scrap all mandates on the North Sea Authority (renaming it from the North Sea Transition Authority) and replace them with one overarching mandate: “maximise the extraction of our oil and gas”. 

By scrapping the ban on new Oil & Gas licences, reversing Ed Miliband's disastrous decision, the Conservatives would make clear that the North Sea is open to business, and that like neighboring countries like Norway we are ready to harness the full power of our natural resources.  

And by reversing the ban on our diplomats, trade networks and UKEF promoting our Oil & Gas sectors and their technologies abroad we will unlock billions in new markets for this industry – with the government supporting £21 billion of UK Oil & Gas exports through trade promotion and export finance between 2010 and 2020. 

Together, these new measures, end the red tape on the industry, scrap many of the Net Zero requirements burdening operators, and give confidence and security that the industry needs to invest and grow.  

In her speech, Kemi Badenoch is expected to say: 

“Under new leadership, it is only the Conservative Party that is backing Britain's North Sea industry.  

“Reform want part-nationalisation, which means the government and politicians running our oil and gas fields, taking us back to the bad old days of the 1970s when the government controlled British industries, running them into the ground. 

“Meanwhile the Labour government have Ed Miliband strangling the North Sea in his dogmatic and ideological pursuit of net zero 2050, refusing new oil and gas licences, and refusing to support UK companies who export oil and gas technologies abroad. 

“The Conservatives are focused on securing jobs, investment, and energy independence. The foundation of economic growth is cheap, abundant energy—and that must be our priority.  

“That's why it is time to overturn the absurd, anti-prosperity, anti-business, anti-oil and gas, anti-British ban on supporting UK Companies who export their world leading technologies overseas. A ban that has done nothing but see business destined for British businesses go to companies from overseas. 

“We should be proud, indeed I am proud, of the cutting edge technology being developed here in Aberdeen and around the UK. We should be championing this technology and these companies - flying the flag for the skills and expertise developed here in Scotland.  

“Instead, in a perverse move, we stopped British diplomats from supporting British businesses, we stopped our Trade Envoys promoting our own exports, we banned our Export Finance organisation from financially backing Britain and we allowed other countries  - countries with far less scruples when it comes to human rights or environmental concerns to move in. 

“It was, and remains, a mad decision. And I say that it needs to go. And when I am Prime Minister it will go. 

“Labour sees the North Sea as a relic of the past, we see it as a cornerstone of Britain's future. By restoring common sense to energy policy, we will unlock billions in revenue, secure our supply, and rebuild confidence in the UK economy. Under the Conservatives, British energy will power British prosperity.” 

ENDS

Notes to Editors

Labour have introduced an effective ban on new oil and gas licences: 

·       Labour made a manifesto commitment to not issue any new licences to explore new oil and gas fields in the North Sea. Labour's manifesto said: ‘We will not issue new licences to explore new fields because they will not take a penny off bills, cannot make us energy secure, and will only accelerate the worsening climate crisis. In addition, we will not grant new coal licences and will ban fracking for good' (The Labour Party, Manifesto 2024, 13 June 2024, link). 

·       The government has consulted on banning new oil and gas licences and stated that it will not issue new licences. On 5 March 2025, the government launched a consultation called ‘Building the North Sea's energy future' in which Ed Miliband said: ‘It is for these reasons that, while we will manage existing oil and gas fields for their lifespan, the government committed not to issue licences to explore new fields' (DESNZ, Consultation, 30 April 2025, link). 

·       Labour dropped the Conservatives plan to appeal a Supreme Court ruling which blocked the development of the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields. On 29 August 2024, Labour announced they would not appeal a Supreme Court ruling which said that emissions must be considered when environmental impact assessments are being carried out. Following the ruling, on 30 January 2025, the Outer House of the Court of Session in Scotland ruled that permission to develop the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields was granted unlawfully (BBC News, 30 August 2025, link; BBC News, 29 August 2024, link). 

·       Jackdaw and Rosebank fields would have provided a significant amount of Britain's oil and gas requirements. Rosebank is the largest known undeveloped oil and gas field in UK waters and is estimated to contain between 300 million and 500 million barrels of oil. Jackdaw was expected to produce 6.5 per cent of the UK's gas production and provide enough fuel to heat 1.4 million homes (Beale, February 2025, link). 

Labour's ban on new oil and gas licences is devastating the industry: 

·       David Whitehouse, CEO of Offshore Energy UK, has warned that 1,000 jobs will be lost every month in the oil and gas industry between now and 2030. WHITEHOUSE: ‘Today, we are seeing skilled jobs being lost on a scale that would be unacceptable in any other sector. Almost 1,000 direct and indirect jobs in the UK oil and gas sector are set to be lost every month between now and 2030. But with supportive government policies, it doesn't have to be this way' (OEUK, Press Release, 18 August 2025, link). 

·       Analysis by Offshore Energy UK (OEUK) and Westwood Global Energy Group found that 7.5 billion barrels of oil and gas could still be produced from UK waters, around half of our oil and gas need. The analysis found the UK could meet half of its oil and gas needs from the North Sea with potentially 7.5 billion barrels of oil and gas able to be produced from UK waters – 3.2 billion more than current estimates. This could add £165 billion in economic value (OEUK, Press Release, 23 June 2025, link). 

·       Offshore Energy UK (OEUK) has warned that without further investment, Britain will be reliant on imports for 80 per cent of its oil and gas needs by 2030. Oil and gas production has fallen to a record low of 40 per cent of consumption for the third quarter in 2024. OEUK has warned this could fall to 20 per cent by 2030 without further investment (OEUK, Press Release, 24 February 2025, link). 

·       The oil and gas industry employs and supports 200,000 jobs. In 2022-23, oil and gas production contributed around £25 billion to the economy and supported over 200,000 jobs, of which 84,000 are in Scotland (OEUK, Key facts, accessed 31 August 2025, link). 

·       One in seven people in Aberdeen are directly employed in oil and gas. Between 13 and 17 per cent of people in Aberdeen City are employed directly in oil and gas (Hansard, Vol 765 Col 404WH, 23 April 2025, link). 

·       23,000 people in Aberdeen City are employed in the energy sector. In Aberdeen City, 23,000 people are employed in the ‘energy' sector with 7,000 employed in the sector in Aberdeenshire (The Chemical Engineer, 29 July 2025, link). 

·       A report by EY Item Club said that Aberdeen has lost 18,000 jobs since 2010, equivalent to 10 per cent of its workforce. The EY Item Club report said: ‘Aberdeen is one of the few local authority districts in Scotland to have fewer jobs in 2023 than in 2010. During this time, it has lost nearly 18,000 jobs, equivalent to 10 per cent of its workforce in 2010, largely due to the ongoing decline in the locally important oil and gas industry' (AGCC, News, 3 December 2024, link). 

The Conservatives will overturn the ban on supporting oil and gas exports: 

• In 2021, it was announced that Britain would end UK Export Finance support, trade funding for overseas fossil fuel projects where specific criteria is not met. The government banned companies that derive between 5 and 10 per cent of their revenue from fossil fuels from accessing an Export Development Guarantee (EDG) unless they had a commitment to reduce revenue from fossil fuels, that is actively transitioning away from fossil fuels or that a has clear commitment to align future activities with the Paris agreement. Further restrictions were placed on companies that derived over 10 per cent of their revenue from fossil fuels that did not have a Climate Transition Plan. In this case, they could not apply for an EDG and would instead apply for a Transition Export Development Guarantee (TEDG). Under a TEDG, the interest rate is linked to achieving goals set out in the Climate Transition Plan, the availability period will not be longer than one year, the repayment period will not be longer than 4 years and monitoring, audit and verification will be required to assess progress against goals in the transition plan. The government described these as ‘very limited exceptions' (PMO, Press Release, 12 December 2020, link; UKEF, Guidance, 17 August 2021, link). 

• Between 2016 and 2020, the government supported £21 billion of UK oil and gas exports. In the four years to 2020, the government supported £21 billion of UK oil and gas exports through trade promotion and export finance (DESNZ, Press Release, 12 December 2020, link).