President Donald Trump has launched his latest attack on renewable energy, accusing Britain of being “crazy” for not encouraging oil drilling in the North Sea.
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The British government ended exploration licenses last year, meaning companies can no longer obtain permission to explore for new oil and gas reserves in undeveloped areas. This does not mean that all current drilling projects have stopped.
But as Iran continues to tighten its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s biggest fossil fuel chokepoints that carries about a fifth of the world’s oil supplies, calls for a reversal of the historic embargo are growing louder.
Prime Minister Rachel Reeves said the government was working “diligently” to enable further drilling by opening up “tieback sites” that allow drilling on or near existing oil fields. This comes after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted that a war with Iran would be the hardest hit among the world’s developed countries because of the amount of energy Britain imports.
Trump tells Britain to do ‘baby training’
“Europe is starving for energy and yet Britain refuses to open North Sea oil, one of the world’s largest oil fields,” President Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social earlier this week.
“Aberdeen should be booming. Norway is selling North Sea oil to Britain at twice the price. They’re making a lot of money.”
Trump went on to claim that the UK is “in a better location” for North Sea drilling, adding: “Drill, drill, baby drill! It’s just crazy that they would do that.” [the UK] Don’t do that and no more windmills! ”
What Donald Trump gets wrong about the North Sea
The UK has already extracted around 4.1 billion tonnes of oil since 1975, and the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) predicts a further 218 million tonnes will be extracted from existing fields by 2050.
According to the Energy and Climate Information Unit (ECIU), these projections suggest that new drilling could only extract an additional 74 million tonnes. This represents 1.7 percent of the total amount that can be mined from 1975 to 2050. This means that 93 per cent of the oil and gas that could be produced from the North Sea has already been extracted.
Separate analysis by campaign group Uplift found that developing massive new oil fields in the North Sea would do little to change Britain’s dependence on gas imports.
The Jacques d’Augas field, one of the North Sea’s largest undeveloped gas fields, replaces just 2 per cent of the UK’s current gas imports, while the Rosebank gas field, which contains mainly oil, only accounts for around 1 per cent of the UK’s gas imports.
Mr Uplift said this would leave the UK almost entirely reliant on supplies from Norway and other countries.
The price of oil and gas is also determined by global markets and cannot be discounted to UK consumers, and gas extracted from UK waters can be exported to the highest bidder, so increasing domestic production does not necessarily translate into lower costs.
Will drilling in the North Sea lower energy bills?
Amid pressure to drill in the North Sea, the war with Iran has also ignited a race for domestically produced renewable energy, which is less susceptible to geopolitical tensions.
The UK is scrambling to improve its energy grid to accommodate new solar and wind farms, often located in remote locations.
Renewable energy will generate 52.5% of the UK’s electricity in 2025, a record. This is the second year in a row that it has exceeded 50%. Last month (March 26) UK wind generation also hit a new high of 23,880 megawatts, enough to power around 23 million homes.
Analysis from the University of Oxford found that households could save up to £441 (€510) a year on energy bills if the UK was powered entirely by renewable energy.
By comparison, maximizing the extraction of oil and gas from the North Sea would only save households between £16 (€19) and £82 (€95) a year, and this would depend on the tax revenue collected being distributed to households to offset their energy bills.
Dr Anupam Sen, co-author of the analysis, said the idea that “draining” the North Sea would ensure the UK’s energy security and significantly reduce household spending was “pure fantasy”.
Earlier this year, 10 European countries, including the UK, pledged €9.5 billion to a landmark initiative to bring 100 gigawatts of joint offshore wind power projects to their shared waters in the North Sea by 2050. This is enough electricity to power approximately 134 million homes.
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