L

Lord Whitehead (Lab)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 17 March 2026

Debate

Renewables Obligation (Amendment) Order 2026

Contribution

I thank the noble Lord for placing that on the record. The Norwegian basin, of course, is far less mature than the UK basin, and indeed the Norwegian system works on substantially the same basis of international pricing as the UK system as far as gas is concerned. The noble Lord has used the word “incredible” on several occasions. It was incredible, over the years, how much gas we were exporting from UK fields, even at a time when it was absolutely necessary to have the maximum supplies bought and used in the UK. Indeed, even during the Ukraine invasion crisis, there were still substantial exports on to the international market of gas that had come into the UK in the first instance. It is also the case, of course, that as far as marginal cost pricing is concerned, gas still makes the market over 65% of the time, so the whole market is still informed by international gas prices and international gas market-making in a way that is inimical to the stable, homegrown future energy that we need to import so that those positions are no longer taken.

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