Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has slammed Labour for treating the oil and gas sector as a “relic of the past”.
It comes as she pledges a Conservative government would make North Sea oil and gas the “cornerstone” of the economy.
Badenoch added a Tory government would extract as much oil and gas extracted from the UK Continental Shelf as possible, will insist that it is only her party that is “backing Britain’s North Sea industry”.
With key figures from the oil and gas sector gathering at the Society of Petroleum Engineers Offshore Europe conference in Aberdeen, Ms Badenoch will use a speech there to say: “Under the Conservatives, British energy will power British prosperity.”
She will insist: “Labour sees the North Sea as a relic of the past; we see it as a cornerstone of Britain’s future.
“By restoring common sense to energy policy, we will unlock billions in revenue, secure our supply, and rebuild confidence in the UK economy.”
The Tories have pledged to to end “Labour’s ban” on new oil and gas licences, saying the industry would be free to carry out exploration work and extract oil and gas.
Ms Badenoch has also said her party would reverse a ban on providing “financial or promotional support for the fossil fuel energy sector overseas”, thus allowing work to promote the UK’s oil and gas sector and its technology overseas.
In addition, the North Sea Transition Authority would be renamed the North Sea Authority, and given the overarching mandate to “maximise the extraction of our oil and gas”.
Hitting out at her rivals, Ms Badenoch will say in her speech that Reform, led by Nigel Farage, want “part-nationalisation” of the sector, claiming this would mean “the government and politicians running our oil and gas fields, taking us back to the bad old days of the 1970s when the government controlled British industries, running them into the ground”.
She will go on to accuse Labour Energy Secretary Ed Miliband of “strangling the North Sea in his dogmatic and ideological pursuit of net zero” by 2050 and by “refusing new oil and gas licences, and refusing to support UK companies who export oil and gas technologies abroad”.
Ms Badenoch will say that in contrast: “The Conservatives are focused on securing jobs, investment, and energy independence.
“The foundation of economic growth is cheap, abundant energy — and that must be our priority.
“That’s why it is time to overturn the absurd, anti-prosperity, anti-business, anti-oil and gas, anti-British ban on supporting UK companies who export their world-leading technologies overseas.”
Ms Badenoch will insist this had “done nothing but see business destined for British businesses go to companies from overseas”.
The Tory leader will claim: “It was, and remains, a mad decision. And I say that it needs to go. And when I am prime minister, it will go.”
Her comments came as David Whitehouse, chief executive of the industry body Offshore Energies UK, said there was “an important message that the UK should produce its own oil and gas”.
He said that estimates suggest the UK will need between 10 billion and 15 billion barrels of oil and gas between now and 2050 – the target date for the country to reach net zero.
But Mr Whitehouse added the UK was currently on course to produce less than four billion barrels from the North Sea.
He said: “I believe in excess of six billion barrels is a realistic target for the country. We just need the right policies to support that.
“And I think it is in our national interest that we put the policies in place that it becomes realistic, that we get back to delivering six to seven billion barrels of oil and gas.”
Mr Whitehouse continued: “Even though we have not seen the level of exploration that the basin needs, we are still seeing some fantastic discoveries in terms of gas discoveries.
“I think there is a real opportunity for the UK to produce much more of its own gas demand in the coming years if we had the right environment.”
The UK Government has been contacted for comment.
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