Listening to Radio 4 on my phone on the way home I heard the evening news: Gordon Brown, keen to show he’s doing all he can to ease the fuel crisis, has taken two decisive actions.
First he’s met with North Sea oil producers to urge them to pump more petroleum from their fields, which have been in decline since 1999. He apparently managed to persuade these producers to up their output by promising them a tax break (i.e. subsidy), which will make costly enhanced recovery techniques economically viable.
The total additional output is expected to amount to about 50 million barrels, enough to keep the world running for about 13 hours. Given that petroleum is a fungible globally traded commodity (there’s no such thing as local prices as the oil price is entirely determined by global factors), this tiny drop in the bucket won’t do anything to lower the price of fuel here in the UK or anywhere else. And you’ve got to think that if $130 a barrel wasn’t enough to stimulate recovery, maybe that subsidy would be better spent elsewhere. After all, given the record profits posted by oil companies this year, I think we could find one or two other technologies more deserving of a break.
The second decisive action Gordon took today was to announce that more nuclear power is the answer to our fuel problems: not just new plants on old nuclear sites but new plants on new sites too. The government’s own sustainability advisors, the SDC, have already done a great job of making the rock solid case against nuclear so I won’t rehash it here. But it’s worth asking what the hell Gordon thinks nuclear energy has to do with the fuel crisis. Because the answer is absolutely nothing, unless you drive an electric car.
So hard-hitting stuff all round from the team in Number 10. Confronted with a transport energy crisis, they’re demonstrating their competence by launching two useless and irrelevant (but environmentally destructive) measures. Seriously, it makes you want to cry.
carbon limited 
Unbelievable, isn’t it!
And then there were announcements on Friday (just gone) of measures largely amounting to nothing more than pushing information to pensioners and the poor; exhorting them to consider switching energy tariffs.
Oh, and allowing energy companies to dip into Govt databases too.
Also, much ceremony made of the apparent £275m pledged by said energy companies to the fuel disposessed, over 3 years. I calculated that if the money went to the 4m people Energywatch claims are living in fuel poverty, it amounts to £68.75 per person.
I know.
What is unbelievable is how the tiny 5 Million population of Scotland have given LONDON over 250 Billion Pounds over the last 30 years.
Because Westminster has classified reports into Scotland’s Economy TOP SECRET.
“The Skint Scot’s Strike Oil – Scotland The Only Country in the World to Strike Oil and get poorer.”
The Facts the Scots need to know are
1. North Sea Oil will last for another 100 years according to industry anaylists
2. Oil is the UK’s Largest Industry landing, 700,000 barrels of oil per day Scots get NO Oil Revenues – Scotland is funded only by population taxes
3.Scottish Oil is worth £22,831 a minute, £32 million a day, £12 billion a year
Scotland could build 2 High Schools or
16 wind turbines a day with it’s VAST oil revenue.
In 66 days Scotland’s oil money could pay for rebuilding all Scotland’s High Schools or
In 16 days could build the World’s largest wind farm! or
It could fund building 256 two bedroom houses a day to solve Scotland’s chronic housing problems.
On top of every man woman and child donating £2300 in their name per annum to LONDON. Tony Blair repaid these generous Scots by ILLEGALLY MAKING 6,000 MILES OF SCOTLAND SEA – ENGLISH in 1999.
In 1974 Jim Callaghans Labour Government said NO to 52% of Scottish votes who voted for a Scottish Devloved Government then no to the 43 out 19 Scottish MP’s who voted to repeal the “40% of the Population Clause” Labour added to the Bill after the referendum.
www. oilofscotland.org