Dale Vince Urges Ed Miliband to Ban North Sea Oil Exports Amid Iran Power War Crisis
One of the Labor Party’s leading financiers has called on Ed Miliband to put the brakes on North Sea oil and gas sales, warning that an escalating conflict with Iran could leave Britain short of fuel.
Dale Vince, the green energy entrepreneur behind Ecotricity, said the Energy Secretary must be ready to take decisive action, ordering miners to keep hydrocarbons at home should the supply be strengthened further. Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, he said it would be “bombshells” to continue sending British barrels overseas while households and businesses seek to clamp down.
“We can prevent shipping in the North Sea. China has done it,” said Mr. Vince, pointing to Beijing’s willingness to prioritize domestic consumption in times of crisis. “If we are facing a problem of fuel shortage, stop exporting it.”
Britain currently pumps around 53 million tonnes a year, much of which is headed to refineries in the Netherlands, Poland and beyond. In the crisis of the global trade system, the country then imports about 51 million tons to feed its front line and power stations, leaving it completely exposed to rising prices in the world market.
That exposure has been painfully evident since the outbreak of war in the Gulf last month. About one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas remains tied up after Tehran closed the Strait of Hormuz, sending Brent crude to around $109 a barrel from $77 earlier in the month. Wholesale gas has jumped by nearly three-quarters, pushing up pump prices and prompting warnings from suppliers that household energy bills will rise sharply in coming months.
The crisis has sparked a heated debate over Britain’s energy security, with industry voices pressing Mr Miliband to speed up drilling and rubber-stamp the disputed Rosebank and Jackdaw fields. Reports on Friday suggested that the Energy Secretary may approve Jackdaw while blocking Rosebank, a decision that could inflame both sides of the dispute.
Mr Vince remains opposed to any new expansion but believes the Government should extract a higher value from the remaining areas of the valley. He suggested offering contracts for difference to existing operators, an approach often associated with renewables, to prevent what he described as “a bottom-line event where operators leave due to falling prices”.
The intervention is sure to provoke strong opposition from private producers, who rely on international buyers for a large part of their income. But Mr Vince said the current situation exposes the folly of exposing British domestic production to changing global benchmarks.
“We have opened up opportunities in world markets, but the concept of globalization costs us an arm and a leg when there are energy problems,” he said. He compared Britain’s approach to that of the United States, which bans the export of certain fuels and has long enjoyed the benefits of cheap domestic gas. “We are back to a situation where whatever we do in the North Sea is costing the world.”
Mr Vince also used the occasion to argue that the conflict should prompt a wider rethink of Britain’s dependence on Washington. The US has become the single largest supplier of crude to the UK, accounting for around 30 per cent of imports. “It scares me to trust the US for anything,” he said, describing the current US administration as “a very unreliable regime” and demanding greater freedom from Washington.
Ultimately, he argued, the long-term answer lies in weaning the country off hydrocarbons entirely. “The answer is to reduce fuel consumption and break the link between the price of fossil fuels around the world and what we do in our country.”
A Government spokesman defended the current approach, stressing that Britain benefits from a “strong and diverse fuel supply mix” that includes both imports and domestic production. Officials added that UK crude oil production would outstrip demand by 2025, leaving a surplus available for export.
