{"id":8848,"date":"2026-11-05T07:08:52","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T07:08:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/scotland\/?p=8848"},"modified":"2026-11-05T07:08:52","modified_gmt":"2026-11-05T07:08:52","slug":"energy-independence-bill-introduced-at-westminster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/scotland\/news\/8848-energy-independence-bill-introduced-at-westminster","title":{"rendered":"Energy Independence Bill introduced at Westminster"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UK Government has laid out the Energy Independence Bill, which would remove the North Sea Transition Authority’s ability to grant new oil and gas licences.<\/p>\n

If passed at Westminster, the legislation would introduce Transitional Energy Certificates, allowing existing oil and gas fields to provide additional production from “areas bordering or in close proximity to already licensed fields”, or in areas that are already part of an existing field.<\/p>\n

The government said the move could produce about 60 million barrels of oil and support hundreds of jobs, while sustaining “growth and investment across North Sea communities as the energy sector transitions”.<\/p>\n

The Bill would also formally scrap gas standing charges and introduce reforms designed to speed up grid connections, alongside the establishment of a new Energy Wealth Fund<\/a> using tax revenue from oil and gas extraction – on top of an initial \u00a32bn of funding – to invest in renewable energy projects.<\/p>\n

Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh said the bill would help to “build a clean energy future which people feel in their pockets, households and communities, ensuring support reaches those who need it most”.<\/p>\n

North Sea Transition Authority chief executive Stuart Payne responded: “We welcome the introduction of the Energy<\/span> Independence<\/span> Bill<\/span>, and stand ready to get to work – making these important changes a reality that supports energy<\/span> production and energy<\/span> transition in the North Sea.”<\/p>\n

David Whitehouse chief executive of industry body Offshore Energies UK, commented that the UK should be making the most of the energy produced here, rather than relying on imports. “That means building out our world-class renewable resources while meeting as much of our continuing demand for oil and gas as possible from our own North Sea.<\/p>\n

“Energy independence must mean backing our own North Sea, our own industries and our own people – Britain cannot import its way to energy independence.”<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Conservatives accused Labour ministers of being “totally oblivious to the economic and energy threats this country faces” and SNP energy spokesman Graham Leadbitter said the legislation was “designed to exploit Scotland’s energy”.<\/p>\n

The Labour administration stated that it is upholding a manifesto pledge not to issue licences for new oil and gas fields.<\/p>\n

The legislation will not affect the decision on whether to allow drilling at Rosebank – the UK’s largest known untapped oil field – which was approved in 2022, before being subject to legal challenges.<\/p>\n

The decision on whether to go ahead with exploration there is still to be made, while the government did recently approve the Jackdaw gas field<\/a>, off the coast of Aberdeen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The legislation would remove the North Sea Transition Authority’s ability to grant new oil and gas licences<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":278857,"featured_media":8851,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"coauthors":[137126],"class_list":["post-8848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","tag-featured-story","tag-north-east-scotland"],"yoast_head":"\nEnergy Independence Bill introduced at Westminster<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The legislation would remove the North Sea Transition Authority's ability to grant new oil and gas licences.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/scotland\/news\/8848-energy-independence-bill-introduced-at-westminster\" 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