Q. what should the UK learn from the oil & gas price spikes driven by the attack on Iran?
Some think the windfall tax on oil production should be suspended/ended to encourage more investment....
But, perhaps the real lesson is the UK needs to push the Green Transition further & quicker - energy sovereignty seems better constructed on renewables than a revival of fossil fuel investment(s)!
The case for green energy is strengthened not weakened by war!
As Canadian economist Jim Stanford recently pointed out, the petrol you are pumping into your car at inflated prices was refined weeks ago from oil extracted months ago. So why, other than profiteering, is the price rising? Funny how an increased *future* price of oil is applied retroactively.
FWIW, Canada is a net exporter of fossil fuels and the price of petrol has jumped 15-20%. Fossil fuel sovereignty is an illusion.
Personally, I'm not directly affected by the increase as I gave up car ownership in 2018. Indirectly, of course, other prices will rise/are rising as the profiteering works its way through the economy.
Yes there have been a number of consumer 'investigations' into the speed in which prices go up in these circumstance & the slowness of the decline later... not that it has actually changed the practice, of course
@ChrisMayLA6 Spain reached a tipping point in decoupling electricity pricing from gas pricing, once you reach renewables and nuclear providing all electricity for enough of the day for enough of the year, the impact of gas prices is significantly reduced https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/decoupled-how-spain-cut-the-link-between-gas-and-power-prices-using-renewables/
@ChrisMayLA6 There are calls to cut the windfall tax because the day ends in a y, no surprise there.
Just cut to the chase and expropriate all the companies now, get a nice fat capital sum for rapid investment.
As I know that’s not going to happen, *increase* the tax now with the excuse of higher unearned profits, and stop Reeves getting her hands on it.
@ChrisMayLA6 "Some think the windfall tax on oil production should be suspended/ended to encourage more investment...."
So when the windfall goes up due to an increase in international oil prices - I doesn't cost any more to pump the oil now than it did a month ago - then the government shouldn't continue to take its share of that windfall?
Methinks lobby shilling logic here.
We are going to prevent Rosebank going ahead aren't we?
As you say, we don't need more investment in UK oil exploration or production, we want to get off oil entirely and invest our windfall taxers in promoting far more sensible renewables energy production instead.
Yes, the fossil fuel lobbyists are (as always) active in the halls of Westminster (and across Fleet St., such as it now is)
@ChrisMayLA6 FWIW when I worked in DTI and later DECC the oil
and gas energy sector specialists were nearly all secondees from the industry.
aha, why am I not surprised
@ChrisMayLA6 as I saw recently in a comment on here, the sun and wind don't need to pass through the Strait of Hormuz
@ChrisMayLA6 There isn’t enough oil and gas left in the North Sea for us to stop importing the stuff, and even if there were we’d still be exposed to global prices and we’ve never had enough to influence that. So reducing the “windfall tax” is just special pleading to not pay the UK for extracting our natural resources, it would have zero effect on any price we pay. Sod ‘em. Take the proceeds of the throw it at building renewables, storage and interconnect.
Yup, that's about it!
@ChrisMayLA6 Yeah, it's the second one. Won't hold my breath for Starmer and Reeves to let Miliband have the resources we need to make that a reality, though.
Wonder how this will be played in the popular discourse, like how successful the fossil fuel industry will be in smearing renewables by blaming e.g. sustainability levies for the additional costs
They'll certainly have a go... and no doubt will be thinking how to undermine the GPEW as well
@ChrisMayLA6 Yes. If the party can't outflank on this topic now, when it's so obvious who is to blame and what is driving costs etc, then Greens probably aren't ready for primetime
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