87 Oil & Gas Companies Work In The North Sea. 7 Plan To Spend Anything On Renewable Energy By 2030

North Sea oil and gas companies are failing to switch their investments to renewable energy, research has shown. Three-quarters of the offshore oil and gas companies operating in the UK plan to invest solely in continued fossil fuel production between now and the end of the decade, according to data compiled by the analyst company Rystad.

Only seven out of 87 companies will spend anything at all on renewable energy projects in the UK before then, despite claims from the industry that they need to be allowed to keep extracting fossil fuels in order to provide funding for their switch to clean energy. Of those seven, only two plan to ensure that a majority of their investment portfolios will be in renewables by 2030, according to analysis of the data carried out by the campaigning organisation Uplift.

The Labour government has banned new licensing of oil and gas fields in the North Sea, though existing fields will be allowed to continue to operate, and no licences now in the pipeline will be revoked, so several potential fields that are in the early stages of licensing could still go ahead. Keir Starmer, the prime minister, announced plans for the new nationally owned Great British Energy company, which will boost renewable projects in the UK, to be headquartered in Aberdeen, the home of the North Sea oil and gas industry, to emphasise the government’s commitment to a “just transition” to clean energy, which would ensure that new jobs are created as old ones in fossil fuels decline.

Labour’s ban on North Sea licences has been fiercely resisted by the industry, and was the subject of virulent attacks by the Conservatives during the general election campaign. Separate research by Carbon Brief has shown that the ban will only slightly accelerate the decline of the North Sea, as most of the fields are severely depleted already.

EDIT

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/sep/27/north-sea-oil-and-gas-firms-in-uk-failing-to-invest-in-renewable-energy