Rishi Sunak defends granting new North Sea oil and gas licences
- August 4, 2023
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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Rishi Sunak defends granting new North Sea oil and gas licences
Subject: IR
Section: Places in news
Context:
- Prime Minister Rishi Sunak defended the decision to grant 100 new North Sea oil and gas licences.
Details:
- Project known as Acorn Project in St Fergus, Aberdeenshire.
- The UK government has also said it will support a carbon capture project in the north east of Scotland.
- It said that granting the new licenses was “entirely consistent” with net zero commitments.
- Between the projects announced in 2021 and today 10 mega tonnes of carbon dioxide will be captured and stored by 2030.
- That includes emissions from Mosmorran, from Grangemouth, from a new power station to be built at Peterhead and, potentially, from direct air capture.
About the St. Fergus project:
- The St Fergus project is a joint venture between Shell UK and other companies.
- It would become Scotland’s first carbon capture and storage facility, which would see harmful greenhouse gas emissions piped under the North Sea.
- This would prevent the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, by capturing it at the point where the fossil fuel is being burnt.
North Sea:
- The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France.
- An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north.
- It is more than 970 kilometers (600 mi) long and 580 kilometers (360 mi) wide, covering 570,000 square kilometers (220,000 sq mi).
- It hosts key north European shipping lanes and is a major fishery.
- The coast is a popular destination for recreation and tourism in bordering countries, and a rich source of energy resources, including wind and wave power.