The North Sea is crucial for Britain’s energy security and the country must keep drilling new wells there, according to energy minister Greg Hands.
In an interview with the Times newspaper, Hands said domestic production gives Britain an advantage compared with other European countries that rely on Russia for a “huge part” of their gas.
It is “important for us not to be increasing our gas imports” at “a time of energy security concerns”, he said.
A surge in global gas prices will increase household energy bills by over 50% from April, reigniting debate over production in the North Sea.
Britain produces about half its gas needs, but the industry has forecast that this could drop by 75% by 2030 without investment in new projects.
The International Energy Agency said last year no new fields should be developed if the world was to hit climate targets.
Hands told the Times that the UK government wants to maintain “robust domestic production” from the North Sea for energy security reasons.
“I don’t want to see us increasing gas imports,” he said.
Europe buys around a third of its gas from Russia and there are fears that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could lead to disruption or to Russia restricting supplies.
“We all know, in terms of the situation between Russia and Ukraine, the UK benefits from the fact that we import very little gas from Russia, less than 3%,” Hands said.
“I wouldn’t want us to be increasing our imports at a time of high prices or in any way that threatens our energy security.”
The energy minister also said North Sea production has lower emissions than imports of liquefied natural gas and that gas has “a big role to play in our energy transition”.
But he said increased North Sea production would have a “minimal impact” on gas prices.
“North Sea gas production is a very small part of global gas production. It’s the global price that sets the UK price,” he said.
Hands denied reports that the government is fast-tracking consents for new projects, saying there is “no change to our regulatory environments”.
He said the government is not considering reviving fracking, which was banned in 2019.
“Unless compelling scientific evidence is provided to address these concerns and ensure that communities are on board, I don’t see a change in that moratorium,” he said in the interview.
The collapse of almost 30 energy suppliers since last year due to the surge in gas prices has been blamed on the government’s price cap by some energy companies.
But Hands said “the price cap is here to stay, we’re committed to have it going forward”, although there will also be reforms to the supply market.
The government has unveiled a £200 discount on energy bills to help struggling consumers, although this is to be repaid in £40 annual instalments from 2023, when the Treasury believes “global wholesale gas prices are expected to come down”.
Hands admitted there was “no sign” of prices easing “in the short term” and said: “We are not in the market of predicting global gas prices. We’ll have to keep this whole situation under review.”