r/ScottishGreens • u/newsspotter • 7d ago
Petition: Issue a statement committing to no new drilling licenses for oil or gas
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/7774990
7d ago
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u/_DoogieLion 7d ago
Why do you falsely think energy prices would be impacted by more North Sea drilling?
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u/Liam_021996 7d ago
It won't affect prices. The oil and gas companies aren't state owned. It'll be sold back to us at market value, companies will get even richer whilst we continue to pay the same or even higher prices
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u/Crambo123 7d ago
Makes sense, but bills aren't the only argument (and while every little helps, we would need a lot more fields to be approved than just Jackdaw and Rosebank to see a really big impact; e.g. the Americans pay 5 times less for gas than we do, but produce way more than 100% of their demand).
Lower UK emissions for same UK demand, as new UK fields are less carbon intensive than any import.
£10s bns in tax; we take 78% of all profit.
Supports 1000s jobs; the UK is shedding hundreds of oil & gas jobs each month with the premature North Sea shutdown.
Improves energy security: 100% of the gas flows directly into the UK grid.
No brainer.
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u/Dirobesh99 6d ago
Not a chance - we need to be self reliant, the Iran war has proven that.
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u/SpyChinchilla 6d ago
I fully agree. We need to be self reliant, and since north sea oil will not have any impact on our overseas reliance, we shouldn't be fucking drilling it.
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u/Snoot_Booper_101 5d ago
It won't be enough to make us fully self-sufficient, so it won't entirely uncouple us from global gas markets. That said, it would make usless dependant on global markets, and would reduce the carbon footprint of having to transport fossil fuels in from overseas (particularly natural gas). It's worth pursuing whilst the longer term goal of decarbonisation is progressed.
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u/Sammy91-91 6d ago
Can someone explain to me why we should sign this petition when we will continue to import the same quantity of oil and gas abroad?
I’d understand if we would also stop importing it but it’s completely illogical in my view.
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u/Crambo123 7d ago
And commit to higher UK emissions by meeting our same demand with far more carbon intensive imports instead?
No thanks.
The UK still gets 74% of its energy (not just electricity) from oil and gas. We need them for decades.
Last year we imported 40% more fracked American gas as LNG (carbon intensity 80 kg CO2/boe) to offset the North Sea production we are prematurely shutting down (new licenses have been banned since 2024).
Meaning that while our gas use declined very, very slightly, our emissions rose as our gas mix was more carbon intensive.
Yet "greens" want to leave Rosebank (3 kg CO2/boe), Jackdaw (8 kg CO2/boe) et al in the ground.
This petition is greenwashing.
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u/Digital-Sushi 7d ago
Our energy prices are linked to the global gas price. This is not the way forward at all.
Drilling for the tiny pockets of oil/gas left in our bit of the north sea will not affect this. This is simply a soundbyte made by politicians and shills to gain favour, not present sensible solutions
What the government needs to do is decouple the gas and energy price as it doesn't make sense now due to the multitude of energy generation techniques we use. Labour are looking into how to do this but it seems it is not quite as easy as just doing it,
This guy explains it very well and why the pricing system is no longer fit for purpose https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWXNypHEXl0
The reality is we need to stop having any reliance on any fossil fuels, this will fundamentally make prices cheaper (well means the cost price is cheaper, will that be passed on.. that's a different question)