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Lord John Browne, the former chief executive of BP, has called for an end to new drilling licenses in the North Sea, implicitly endorsing Labour’s stance on fossil fuels.
In the Financial Times, he warns that political parties will be judged on their approach to climate change in the upcoming general election.
“The key test for the parties contesting this UK election is whether they have serious plans for the country’s green energy transition,” he wrote. “What will they do to combat climate change and its existential threat of famine and mass migration?”
Browne, who ran oil major BP from 1995 to 2007, said Britain would need oil and gas for many years to come, so drilling in existing fields in the North Sea should continue. Licenses that have already been granted should also be allowed to continue, he added.
“But other than that, we should stop,” he wrote. “Such a move will strengthen our intention to get to net zero.” He argued that the development of these final “very limited” oil and gas resources remaining in the North Sea would not greatly affect electricity prices or Britain’s energy security.
While few companies plan to explore the North Sea for more oil, the support of Browne, the British oil and gas giant, sends one of the strongest signals to Labor that time is running out for the region.
BP discovered the first gas field in the North Sea in 1965 and produced oil in 1970 in the Forties, the basin’s second largest oil field, which changed the company’s fortunes. BP sold the field to Apache in 2003 for $812 million as oil companies began pulling out of the region in search of bigger prizes elsewhere in the world.
An internationally recognized expert, Browne joined venture capital group General Atlantic in 2021 to work on climate change investments. He has not explicitly endorsed Labour, Britain’s main opposition party, which is leading the polls ahead of the July 4 general election.
However, his stance on ending the new licenses is in line with that set out by Sir Keir Starmer, the Labor leader, and his shadow energy secretary, Ed Miliband.
Responding to Browne’s post, Miliband said: “Lord Browne’s intervention adds his voice to a chorus of energy experts, including the International Energy Agency and the Committee on Climate Change, who say clearly that new oil and gas licenses are not the right choice for Britain.”
“The only way to strengthen our energy security, strengthen our economy, protect our climate and secure long-term, good jobs here in Britain is to manage existing licenses while sprinting to develop the clean energy sector of the future.”
Labour’s stance on ending new North Sea licenses has infuriated some of its biggest union supporters, with the GMB calling the policy “naive”.
Last month Sharon Graham, general secretary of the Unite trade union, warned Labor against banning new North Sea licenses without a clear plan to protect jobs, warning that workers in the industry risked becoming “the coal miners of our generation”.
One veteran oil and gas investment banker said several deals he worked on were put on hold until after the election because of political uncertainty over the future of the North Sea. Jersey Oil & Gas told investors on Wednesday it would delay work on its Buchan field in the North Sea for at least a year.
A separate Labor policy for a tougher windfall tax on the sector has led to threats from the industry to stop work on some existing oilfields. Browne did not mention taxes but offered a small olive branch to energy companies, suggesting that the estimated £40 billion it would cost to decommission oil and gas fields could be avoided by leaving more of the infrastructure, such as oil rigs, on place. .