Nils Pratley (Oil and gas imports are a problem. Labour should rethink its North Sea stance, 2 September) cites Offshore Energies’ estimate that offshore jobs are being lost at a rate of about 1,000 a month. What this and a similar estimate by the shadow energy minister, Andrew Bowie, of 400 job losses every fortnight up to 2030, misses is that this is less than half the rate of job losses under the Tories between 2013 and 2023. During this time, they continued to invest in new oil and gas fields and 227,000 workers lost their jobs all the same. That’s a rate of 436 a week.
Analysis of North Sea data by the End Fuel Poverty Coalition shows that by 2027, more than two-thirds of the UK’s gas needs will be completely dependent on imports, and even if new fields are approved, the UK will still be 94% reliant on imports by 2050. Given the horrendous carbon footprint of US liquefied natural gas, that makes it even more imperative that we make any continued gas use as residual as possible.
