Rishi Sunak signs oil deal in the North Sea, but it is as murky as the oil they plan to extract.
BP profits
It comes as BP has angered climate campaigners, and probably a lot of other people, by reporting profits of $2.6bn (£2bn) for the second quarter of the year as the climate crisis triggers extreme heatwaves.
Susie Dent’s word of the day nailed the PM on his apparent green u-turn.
Sunk signs oil deal
Sunak said of the deal: “My view is we should max out the opportunities that we have here in the North Sea, because that’s good for our energy security.
“It’s good for jobs, particularly here in Scotland, but it’s also good for the climate because the alternative is shipping energy here from halfway around the world with three or four times the carbon emissions. So any which way you look at it, the right thing to do is to invest into back our North Sea, and that’s what we’re doing.”
Family link
Back in May Infosys secured a major $1.5 billion deal with energy giant BP.
“As BP’s primary partner, Infosys will oversee a broad range of services, including development, modernisation, management, and maintenance of applications. The partnership aims to bolster business resilience by modernising BP’s application infrastructure, improving operational efficiencies, and accelerating innovation through more adaptive and agile processes,” reports Business Today.
Infosys, the company founded by Rishi Sunak’s father-in-law NR Narayana Murthy and his wife owns a stake in the company.
Backlash
Chris Skidmore, the Conservative MP who led a review for the government into net zero, was fiercely critical of the North Sea plans
Skidmore said it was “the wrong decision at precisely the wrong time”.
Adding: “It is on the wrong side of a future economy that will be founded on renewable and clean industries, and not fossil fuels.
“It is on the wrong side of modern voters who will vote with their feet at the next general election for parties that protect, and not threaten, our environment. And it is on the wrong side of history, that will not look favourably on the decision taken today.”
Oxfam’s climate policy adviser, Lyndsay Walsh, said: “Extracting more fossil fuels from the North Sea will send a wrecking ball through the UK’s climate commitments at a time when we should be investing in a just transition to a low-carbon economy and our own abundant renewables.”
Mike Childs, the head of policy for Friends of the Earth, said: “Climate change is already battering the planet with unprecedented wildfires and heatwaves across the globe. Granting hundreds of new oil and gas licences will simply pour more fuel on the flames, while doing nothing for energy security as these fossil fuels will be sold on international markets and not reserved for UK use.”
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