Liz Truss vows to give green light to oil and gas drilling licences if she is elected as next Tory leader
- The Tory frontrunner believes it will help bolster the UK’s energy security
- Allies Kwasi Kwarteng and Jacob Rees-Mogg want to maximise domestic production
- Gas and oil companies to be encouraged to invest in existing sites before winter
- North Sea is believed to contain equivalent to 15 billion barrels of oil and gas
The Tory frontrunner will give the green light to a series of oil and gas licences in the North Sea if she is elected next week – in a bid to bolster the UK’s energy security.
Both Kwasi Kwarteng and Jacob Rees-Mogg – allies of Liz Truss who remain in the Cabinet – hope to maximise domestic production while also securing more gas from Norway.
If elected, Miss Truss will be likely to invite applications for drilling licences to explore new fields – potentially issuing up to 130, according to The Times.
In addition, gas and oil companies will be encouraged to heavily invest in their existing sites in order to optimise production ahead of winter.
Liz Truss will give the green light to a series of oil and gas licences in the North Sea if she is elected next week – in a bid to bolster the UK’s energy security
The North Sea contains the equivalent of around 15 billion barrels of oil and gas, according to the latest estimates, with British consumers equating to one billion barrels annually.
Miss Truss has already ruled out a fresh Windfall tax on energy companies, suggesting the idea was ‘all about bashing business’.
Last week she wrote in the Daily Mail that she will end the ban on fracking as part of a plan to make the UK an ‘energy-secure dynamo’.
Mr Kwarteng, who is tipped to be Miss Truss’ potential Chancellor, has long been an advocate of drilling in the North Sea, much to the chagrin of environmental activists.