Think it's Time to Start Drilling

We absolutely should start drilling, prices are rising faster than anybody can keep up and we increasingly find ourselves at the mercy of redundancies and restructures and working for less money than we used to when everything costs more. Interest rates are set to rise - we need a dose of reality rather than a lovely ambition. Net zero is so far out of reach it’s not even in my comprehension

“The whole system revolves around the idea that the majority can be made to believe 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, so long as it is repeated loudly and often. And it works”

It’s ok to not be at the point of questioning yet. I was there too, for a long time. I’m sure you’ll catch up soon.

Well oil fields need workers, apart from oil men cooks cleaners -they need service ships etcetc so why not provide some employment to harbours, oil treatment plants etc then take the tax from the workers pay. Instead we pay Saudi, Qatar millions whilst they pay their foreign workers as little as possible.

• And the green energy -well you tell me where the jobs (apart from China and Denmark who build them) -the plant hire company owners round here are millionaires thanks to leasing diggers etc etc but once built there are FA jobs and the UK mugs who fall for this are pushing the country into worse and worse decline. The reason the price of gas is a problem is because ‘
• ’Mains gas central heating remains the most common method for heating homes in England and Wales, with around 74% of households using it as their only central heating source.’

We are an island surrounded by sea, why aren't we harnessing tidal power? Prices of oil are only going up due to price gouging, the oil companies use any excuse to put up prices.

Yeah that will solve the problem, there will be no side effects from that 🙄

Still a significant chunk goes to the treasury via upstream taxes when we use UK oil and gas.

UK own production: about 40~60% (tax)
Norway about 85% (tax plus direct stake)

UK importing: basically 0% upstream goes to the state.

If you are cross about the state being cut out oil and gas wealth then you should favour switching from imports to domestic sources.

"We" wouldn't be selling it, the industry was privatised in the early 80s.

We've taken a wrong turning, so backwards is the right way to go.

By investing heavily in wind, curtailing gas, and eschewing nuclear, we are stifling growth, worsening cost of living, and missing an opportunity to do far more to decarbonise the planet.

The wrong turn was to prefer expensive UK decarbonisation over much more cost-effective global projects, like preventing peatland burning in SE Asia.

Numbers:

UK wind + storage for base load: £70-180/MWh after paying to fully offset its (fairly small) carbon footprint.

Gas: £30-50/MWh after paying to fully offset its carbon footprint. If we are prepared to pay £70-180/MWh, we could offset 10-40 times as much carbon as gas production produces. i.e. do 10-40 times as much good, carbon-wise, as a wind-based policy.

Basically, we spend far more to achieve far less, for domestic political/ ideological reasons. That isn't taking climate change seriously.

Long term the oil and gas runs out, which is why we need nuclear (which is far preferable). But until then we should use (UK) gas and over-fund the offset. Cheaper for consumers, better for the planet.

Why would anyone serious about climate change oppose that?

Yes, of course we can do what we can with recycling, etc and we should be absolutely be striving to make our own environment better. But, we will not make any difference to the global problems. And when governments continue to wage war, our little efforts account to zero.

Why can't we do both ?
Keep on working on renewables and get security for our country

Unfortunately a lot of money has been given to Ed mill for carbon capture which isn't a safe bet . That money should have been used on a variety of projects

I'd prefer we made efforts, no matter how feeble, rather than do fuck all.

At least if we're doing something we have the opportunity to move on to something more effective. Denying there's a problem means we carry on actively making things worse.

Future generations are going to despise us, but hey, at least some very rich people got even richer.

Only if you want fracking.

correction, I checked, seems like Mark Thatcher was not involved in North Sea oil. It was an overseas oil scandal.

I completely agree with you. We’re not using less oil, it’s just where we’re getting it from. Madness to be reliant on foreign countries when we could be more self-sufficient in these tricky times.

Yes, of course, I agree. But as I have said above our feeble efforts will not make a wit of a difference whilst governments continue to war so what's the point. It will make no difference in the grand scheme of things.

didn't we use up most of it in the 80s when the likes of Margaret Thatchers son and his mates got very rich. Meanwhile Norway used it for a sovereign wealth fund.

Man made climate change is an existential threat to humanity

It needs to be tackled otherwise the wars for resources, much like the current Iran one, will become more frequent and bigger

Habitat loss, and the loss of farm land will cause mass migration and starvation

I could go on. But you could just Google it

We can't deny climate change but what can we actually do about it if governments keep waging war? Making weapons and deploying these weapons cause huge environmental damage but that seems ok with governments whilst they nudge us to do this that and the next thing re saving the planet. It doesn't make sense.

I assumed this was going to be about getting revenge on noisy neighbours.

We also live on an island, surrounded by powerful water. And have lots of hills, which is where the wind lives. I mean, it’s even sunny sometimes. It’s time we moved on from oil.

Yeah for sure but what actual difference would it make?

You are very Misinformed.. it's very deep the oil now in North Sea. It will cost billions and a long time to extract. The oil fields are owned by American companies so it's not ours.
Renewables are better long term.

Not denying climate change is what is needed.

But if wars are being waged and the current crisis in Iran is obviously wreaking havoc on the environment what is it you feel would make a difference?

Every major scientific body on Earth agrees that the climate is warming due to human activity.

Denying climate change just means you're ignoring evidence.

You're not a free thinker, you're just parroting nonsense.