Think it's Time to Start Drilling

[MissAustenMadeAQuilt]

Oil price rising fast which means energy, food, petrol costs, everything will rocket fast and jobs will be lost.

We have our own oil in our own back yard, which would give us protection.

AIBU to think we should grant oil licences and get drilling.

If not we're going to reach Net Zero a lot faster than planned and it ain't going to be pretty.

No

Time to invest more in renewables so that we don't rely on oil with it's volatile prices

Yawn.

I disagree. It'll focus our minds on building up our renewables, force the issue of food security into the minds of our idiot government and encourage us to cut waste.

The Arab states have a lifestyle based on the wealth that oil exports bring, they won't allow this war to go on for long. Plus Trump will get serious grief from his home markets over share prices dropping. It's in no-one's interests for it to drag on.

Yes we have big reserves jn the north sea but because of this net zero nonsense we are having to import the stuff at inflated prices. Its bloody ridiculous

We can't really afford the pivot to renewables

That’s your take on this? With all the renewables available now? Go backwards?

Do you grasp the seriousness of climate change?

Obviously not.

Would take years to open up new north sea oil fields & once the oil price drops, these investments become unprofitable.

Plus the extraction is done by private companies, selling on world markets, its not "our" oil at all.

We need Trump to back down very quickly.

We can't afford renewables and we are at least a generation away from there being enough supply of renewables to meet demand.

It's crazy that we stopped drilling when the entire UK output contributes something like 0.6% of global CO2 emissions.

Why don’t we just put a bit more renewables in ?

use this as motivation to sort out a greener lifestyle ?

reaching net zero fast is actually a lot prettier than the alternative. Got to love this winter - thanks climate change

drilling only buys you a little time anyway. It’s expensive and dirty and the fuel kills people but hey? You would rather pay for that now and then pay for renewables later? Why pay more ?

if we can’t afford renewables we certainly can’t afford oil !

and the amount the uk would produce won’t make a dint in the current oil price

naive

On the contrary, it should be a real wake up call to get away from our incredibly dangerous and short sighted reliance on fossil fuels.

Spain has invested heavily in renewables and look how it's paying off for them now.

https://giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/actions/redeem/a6ba47a3-62d5-4da8-a92f-ff304c8dc667

Even if we were to drill, the oil would be sold on the international markets. It's not going to be for UK use only.

Renewables and nuclear provide about 30% of our electricity - but up to 70% at times.

We literally live on a windy island. Why people don't get the arguments for investing more in renewables baffles me. It's a huge industry ripe for setting up a generation of careers and long-term energy security.

If Reform get in and scrap our renewables programme we will be entirely reliant on other countries for our energy security. It's madness.

We need to go for much more solar, wind and geothermal power. Dependence on oil is suicidal.

We would be selling it! so, win, win. We would have enough for ourselves and sell excess.

I think that is exactly what Norway is doing in their part of the same sea that our oil is in. We're the numb buggers who have to buy it from others!

Those who are truly Green-in every sense of the word-shouldn't be using any oil at all. You are either against it-in which case don't use any-it's either bad or it isn't. But if you want to use it, then a child of five can see it is better to use our own.

If we reached Net Zero-ridiculous-it would make less than 1% difference and we wouldn't be sitting bare arsed in the ashes, we'd be buying it in...causing even more pollution!

Use our own like everyone else who is lucky enough to have their own does-apart from gobshites like us!

This crisis is part of the violent end of the oil age. We need to get off it ASAP.

Our biggest mistake was failing to build a huge nuclear energy capacity. We should fix that right now.

You fundamentally misunderstand the international oil markets.

Yep we need both.

Well the fact that it takes about 10 years to bring a new oil field on stream means that there will probably be about 5 wars and consequent ups and downs in the oil price by the time we actually get the oil.

Oil production in the UK isn't something you can ramp up and down on a sixpence.

Which is why we need to be continuously investing in oil production all the time - not as much as we have been doing as renewables replace the oil. But we at least need to keep some investment going.

At the moment pretty much all investment is being curtailed which means at some point production will drop off a cliff. I am pretty confident at some point that's going to lead to some severe resiliance issues. At which point all the green proponents of "don't drill for any more oil" will quietly disappear, and everyone will start complaining about the government, it's lack of planning and "what they are doing about it".

This is why energy planning by popular public opinion is a bad idea.

Well said @GasPanic

Do people honestly believe that we can just drill more and hey presto we have oil? It’s beyond economic margins ie too expensive to drill, it is not an immediate process and we sold our rights to it anyway. Norway didn’t.

I don’t think you understand how it all works.

Fundamentally there is a lack of understanding in how energy markets and production works.

Oil production firstly we don't have the processing capability for heavy crude it has to go to other refineries elsewhere before coming back to the UK.

Gas is a different story and there are reserves available but it takes years to get to production. Some fields can increase current output but there is a element of assessments required first.
The UK is heavily reliant on gas it can make up to 50% of electricity output in certain conditions when renewable output drops. Storage of renewable energy is very difficult and requires acres upon acres. It's why I find it amusing when someone tells me they are 100% green and have an electric car!

There's also a lack of understanding of what the govt has said its no new licences it's not no drilling. Any licences held by a company can apply to drill and drilling operations are occurring.

There is no quick fix in any energy production oil and gas or renewable. It needs careful balance and transition over time.

We have solar panels, which are great in summer. I can often do the laundry, dishwasher and general household electricity for not much more than the standing charge in the lighter months. But October to February are when we use the most electricity and generate not much more than bugger all. Shame we can't fit a wond turbine in the back garden!

But there are so many roofs that could have some kind of power sharing plan if the companies could use them. Much better than panelling up the countryside.

We need to do both. Oil and renewables.
Windmills and solar need to be at sea/on warehouses/carparks/all new builds, not taking up food producing land which is the next crisis we are blundering towards.