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UK ‘failed to save gas reserves’
Steve Bradshaw, Panorama (BBC)
Soaring gas prices in Britain are a symptom of the country’s failure to spend its historic North Sea windfall wisely, experts have told Panorama
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Long-term this could mean higher prices for consumers, loss of jobs and even a threat to national energy security, senior industry figures have said.
Some experts believe the industry failed to plan for the current steep fall-off in domestic supplies. They warn the UK will have to learn how to play power politics with energy.
“When North Sea gas was discovered there were a number of people in Britain who argued that at least a portion of the North Sea gas should be saved, as a national strategic reserve for the future in case Britain had a serious gas supply problem like it did last winter” said Paul Domjan who is a former energy security adviser to the US defence department.
“Sadly none of those people were listened to.”
For decades Britain has relied on a free market framework for energy policy but analysts in Panorama’s film The High Price of Gas are concerned it has gone too far.
(3 Nov 2006)
The Panorma video “The High Price of Gas” will be available online starting Nov 5 at this website.
Era of cheap energy over
inthenews.co.uk
The era of cheap energy in the UK is over, the energy minister said last night.
Malcolm Wicks said the UK was unlikely to see a return to low gas prices because of diminishing reserves of North Sea gas, forcing the country to import supplies from the continent and further afield.
“But I would generalise by saying that although I hope prices are going to come down from the high levels they are at now, with all the extra supplies there are now coming in a world that is demanding more and more energy does not suggest to me that we are going to see a return to very low prices,” he told Channel Four News.
(7 Nov 2006)
Stern vision ‘needs new targets’
Carbon trading may need new emissions targets to go global
Richard Black, BBC
The Stern Review’s recommendations on curbing climate change need a fresh set of global emissions targets, according to a leading environmental economist. Professor Michael Grubb said carbon trading would only be effective globally if a new deal were in place.
New emissions targets are being discussed at the UN climate summit in Nairobi, but agreement is unlikely.
Professor Grubb also warned that the European market for carbon risked being undermined by a number of countries. He described as “laughable” some of the national emissions quotas being proposed for the second phase of the European Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).
The European Commission is due to make a statement on Thursday which could include its response to these quotas.
(8 Nov 2006)
