{"id":6611,"date":"2026-10-01T19:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mikhailinvest.com\/burnham-promises-pragmatic-north-sea-approach\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T19:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T16:00:00","slug":"burnham-promises-pragmatic-north-sea-approach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mikhailinvest.com\/ru\/burnham-promises-pragmatic-north-sea-approach\/","title":{"rendered":"Burnham Promises \u201cPragmatic\u201d North Sea Approach"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andy Burnham promised to be \u201cpragmatic\u201d about drilling in the North Sea in his conference speech. Those in Aberdeen say there\u2019s not a moment to lose.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Bedecked in her obligatory high-vis jacket and surrounded by hardhard-wearing oil and gas workers, Miatta Fanbulleh\u2019s first ministerial trip was a striking piece of political symbolism.<\/p>\n

Just three days on from being named Andy Burnham\u2019s energy secretary, the former think tank chief had managed achieved something that took her predecessor Ed Miliband more than four months<\/a>: visit Aberdeen, and engage with the city\u2019s pariah-like oil and gas industry.<\/p>\n

The early trip north was an \u201cimportant signal\u201d in and of itself, Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) chief executive David Whitehouse said, given the cold shoulder many in his industry had been given by the previous government. Talks during it were hailed as \u201cconstructive\u201d by industry, and added to a sense of optimism first rekindled during the Makerfield byelection, when Burnham said he was \u201copen-minded\u201d about new North Sea oil licences.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat visit was a very positive sign of the sector,\u201d says Enrique Cornejo, energy policy director at Offshore Energies UK. \u201cSetting out that they understand and recognise the importance of the North Sea\u2026. was a really good first step.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than two months since that visit, however, and energy executives have little to point to by way of concrete progress beyond more positive mood music and non-committal overtures.<\/p>\n

This week\u2019s Labour conference was no different. In a speech dripping in concrete policy announcements, Burnham could only manage to promise a \u201cpragmatic approach<\/a>\u201d to the North Sea. His remarks were a carbon copy of comments made days earlier by Fahnbulleh, who as well as using the \u2018p\u2019 word also acknowledged oil and gas would continue to<\/a> \u201cbe part of [our] mix\u201d for decades.<\/p>\n

But the lack of hard progress notwithstanding, industry figures remain optimistic that inroads are just around the corner. First on ministers\u2019 in-tray is a decision over Jackdaw and Rosebank, two major energy developments that have been in limbo for over two years after a controversial court ruling.<\/p>\n

The two fields \u2013 both owned by a joint venture between Equinor and Shell known as Adura \u2013 could produce nearly a billion barrels of oil and fulfil more than six per cent of the UK\u2019s gas demand.<\/p>\n

After a consultation into the fields\u2019 future wrapped up in August, Burnham and Fahnbulleh were due to make a decision on them early September, ahead of party conference season.<\/p>\n

To Cornejo, rubber stamping both those projects would represent an \u201cimportant first step\u201d. But for those on the front line of the industry, to stop there would be to hamper the country\u2019s energy security and economic prosperity just as other markets are doubling down on domestic supply.<\/p>\n

The war in the Middle East \u2013 now into its seventh month \u2013 has uprooted global energy supplies just four years after Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine had a similarly momentous effect. European natural gas prices, which unlike oil is not a global market, have risen by more than 130 per cent since the start of the year, while Brent crude is up more than two thirds.<\/p>\n

In response, the government of Norway, whose basin neighbours the UK\u2019s, chose to slow its planned production decline to help fill the supply-starved market. Meanwhile the US has announced plans to restrict exports of diesel in a bid to safeguard supply in its domestic economy.<\/p>\n

This context, OEUK argues, makes the need for action as pressing as it is logical. As well as Jackdaw and Rosebank, there are over 100 licensed projects that are ready to be extracted should the government promise both a consitent tax regime and quicker regulation.<\/p>\n

For its part, the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero says the North remains a \u201cvital asset\u201d and that a decision Adura\u2019s two fields would \u201ctake into account all relevant evidence\u201d.<\/p>\n

That evidence, Cornejo says, is overwhelmingly on their side. \u201cThe government has choices with those additional revenues to use those to support consumers, or to support the uptake of of technologies,\u201d he tells City AM.<\/em><\/strong> \u201cBut the alternative is to not have those tax revenues, to import all of that oil and gas that we will still need from somewhere else, and not deliver any benefits to the UK economy and society \u2013 those are the choices the government is facing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Until that choice is made, hard hats and high-viz jackets will have to suffice.<\/p>\n

By City AM\u00a0<\/p>\n

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