Brown Looks to North Sea in Bid to Ease Crisis

GORDON Brown yesterday moved to reassure drivers he was aware of concerns over soaring fuel prices by calling for increased production of North Sea oil.

The Prime Minister also opened the door to a greater reliance on nuclear power as he sought to find long-term solutions to the energy crisis.

But he admitted that high global oil prices – which have driven petrol to around GBP 1.15 a litre – were here to stay.

Meanwhile, Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, ruled out a quick announcement on scrapping the proposed 2p per litre increase in fuel duty that is due in October. He said he would only make up his mind “nearer the time”.

Yesterday, Mr Brown and Mr Darling unexpectedly attended a meeting of oil and gas industry leaders in Banchory. This tied in with moves to allow up to 70,000 extra barrels of oil a day to be drawn from the North Sea. Two new oil fields north-east of the Shetlands will begin production next year, while 30 other fields will be carved out of unprofitable parts of existing drilling areas.

Mr Brown said: “What we were talking about was increasing the output from North Sea fields which have been difficult to exploit – smaller fields which are more expensive to develop, existing fields where we can get an enhanced rate of recovery and the West Shetland basin, which is an untapped resource.”

North Sea oil production peaked in 1999 and is currently 1.2 million barrels per day.

One expert said any increase would “barely register on a global scale” and have no effect on oil or petrol prices.

Mr Brown said the UK’s plans for nuclear power needed to be “more ambitious” and go beyond merely replacing the 23 ageing reactors.

The SNP said that the decision on building new nuclear plants in Scotland rested with Holyrood and had already been rejected.

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