Rishi Sunak’s “shocking” new gas import deal reveals environmental hypocrisy and a ‘NIMBY’ (not in my back yard) attitude which will cost the British economy, that’s the view of IGas Energy PLC (AIM:IGAS, OTC:IGESF) chief executive Chris Hopkinson.
Hopkinson today joined the Proactive studio to talk about geothermal projects, a separate and less controversial part of the AIM-quoted firm’s UK energy portfolio, though he also spelt out that IGas would not be giving up on the company’s shale gas assets.
It comes after the window of opportunity had briefly swung open for IGas, during the few weeks in which Liz Truss was at Number 10, though Britain’s latest Prime Minister has quickly slammed it shut again as he reinstated the moratorium on fracking in the first few days of his tenure.
This week, amidst the COP27 environmental summit, Sunak’s government announced it would reiterate the ban on UK fracking, Hopkinson outlined the hypocrisy of the deal, which will see billions of cubic meters of liquified natural gas (LNG) imported from the US.
Sunak’s fracking U-turn and US import deal only push environmental responsibility elsewhere, so says @IGasEnergy CEO Chris Hopkinson #Fracking #Energy pic.twitter.com/eR2PGFLMTw
— Proactive (@proactive_UK) November 9, 2022
Hopkinson, whose company IGas is among the biggest acreage-holders in UK shale (spanning projects in the North West and the East Midlands), described himself as disappointed and perplexed by the government’s actions.
He suggests the government’s decision to import, rather than domestically flow gas has seen it passed up the opportunity to create jobs and generate revenue from taxes, to instead hand those economic benefits abroad.
In the Proactive interview, Hopkinson says “the gas we’ll be importing has been fracked … so we’ve just said not in our back garden”.
Hopkinson also pointed out how imported LNG creates up to ten times more CO2 emissions than piped gas, due to transportation (notwithstanding the energy intensive process that requires the gas to be cooled to -160C), highlighting a drastically worse effect US gas will have rather than if it was domestically produced.
He added: “From an environmental point of view, all we’ve done is push that environmental responsibility somewhere else and created more of a carbon footprint.
“It’s somewhat perplexing that the government would make a decision like this, which is obviously political rather than scientific.”
After urging nations to honour climate policies during his COP27 speech on Monday, Telegraph reports emerged on Tuesday that the prime minister was in advanced discussion with the USA over the gas deal, which could include increased cooperation on nuclear power projects and a drive on renewables.
The energy crisis caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine has seen UK imports of LNG increase by 65% compared to 2021 as the country attempts to stem the risk of supply shortages, with the UK/US gas deal set to hike this number even further.