Minister Shanks speech on North Sea at Offshore Europe Conference
Energy Minister Michael Shanks delivered a speech at the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Offshore Europe Conference 2025.
Well good morning, everyone.
It’s a pleasure to be here in sunny Aberdeen again, the beating heart of our energy sector, and to join you in celebrating our world-renowned workforce.
A year ago. I was in this very building for OEUK’s conference, and I said then, what an enormous privilege it was to have this job, and I repeat that now.
And I also want to add to that, my thanks to many of the people in this room who have met with me over the past year, who have hosted me on visits, who have provided advice and challenge. Your insights into your industry have been incredibly helpful, so thank you.
I’ve been in this city more than anywhere else as energy minister, because when I set out in this job, I was determined to understand this industry, to understand this city, and to think seriously about its future, and throughout that time in my engagement with you, I’ve made two simple commitments: that I will genuinely listen, but also that I’ll be honest with you, even when it might be a message you don’t always want to hear. And that is what I aim to do this morning.
And my one message above anything else is this: now is the time to build the North Sea’s energy future, and this government will back the North Sea, its workers and its industry to remain the great British success story that it has been for more than half a century.
We refuse to accept the status quo of the last decade, which has seen more than a third of jobs in this industry lost, and other countries getting ahead in the technologies that should be safeguarding our energy future. No more.
Now is the time to invest and the time to build for the future. I’ve often spoken about the genuine sense of pride that I have in this industry, not just as Energy Minister, but as a Scottish MP that knows many, many people who work in this industry. You achieved extraordinary things against the odds. Engineering marvels in some of the planet’s harshest waters, innovation that led the workforce in this city to become the envy of the world.
I was fortunate to join BP last year as they celebrated the 60th anniversary of the first licence being issued in the North Sea. And looking back, that was an extraordinary moment in our energy story as coal made way for cheap, convenient gas that was abundant on our shores, and millions of households slowly began to switch their appliances over to natural gas.
It was the leadership and the ingenuity of our energy industry which drove us forward at a time of transition, at a time when some said it couldn’t be done and it would be too difficult.
Today, we find ourselves in the middle of yet another great transition. And in this era of global instability, we know that the way to take back control of our energy security is to build a diverse energy system, creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs in the industries of the future here in Britain, and showing much needed leadership in the fight against irreversible climate change. Something that I know, having spoken to many in this industry, that you take just as seriously as anyone else [political content removed].
And as proud as we absolutely are of what this industry has achieved in the past half century, the truth is, we are in transition and we have been for decades.
But this cannot ever be a binary choice between one industry or another. And so, even as we go all out for clean power, oil and gas will continue to play a crucial role for decades to come. That is not just my view, but it’s the expert view of the Independent Climate Change Committee too. And so we will support businesses to manage existing fields for the entirety of their lifespan.
We will provide long term certainty of the fiscal landscape that the sector needs, including a new regime to respond to future spikes in oil and gas prices when the energy profits levy ends. But we will also do everything we can to back the next generation of clean energy industries in the North Sea as well, making this a safe haven for long term investment, making sure that we talk up the potential of the North Sea, not talk it down.
We owe that to the North Sea’s workers and communities, those who have done so much for our country to come up with a proper plan for the future and to get on with delivering it – not rhetoric without foundation, but a rational plan created in partnership with industry.
And that’s exactly why we launched a wide-ranging consultation on the future of energy in the North Sea. And I want to thank everyone who participated in that consultation. Your responses and the detail in them and the practical examples were invaluable. We’ve been reviewing every single one of them, and we’ll publish the government’s response soon, including clear next steps on our licensing commitments to provide stability and certainty.
But the only way that this transition works is to drive forward on future industries as well. We must not talk down the enormous potential from offshore renewables, carbon capture and hydrogen as some have chosen to do, turning away from billions of investment and thousands of jobs.
So let me set out what we will do to make sure that the North Sea remains an energy powerhouse of global importance.
Firstly, we have an opportunity to harness the unique strengths. This is one of the best places in the world for offshore wind, carbon capture and hydrogen, and it’s already home to a lot of that infrastructure. The armies of skilled engineers and a world leading supply chain.
That is why Great British Energy is headquartered here in Aberdeen. It is why we approved the offshore wind auction. It’s why we introduced the Clean Industry Bonus, designed to encourage supply chains here in the UK, which smashed all expectations. And as a result, we have more than doubled the funding going into that to over £540 million.
It’s also why it was fantastic to see investment in our port infrastructure. I had the pleasure of visiting the Port of Ardersier, and the Port of Cromarty Firth and the Port of Nigg recently, and all three have had significant investments to support our rapidly growing floating offshore wind sector, and at the Port of Nigg, investment in innovative cable technology.
We are also making a huge commitment to carbon capture and hydrogen - the industries of the future. And just a few weeks ago, the Energy Secretary was a few miles up the road from here at Saint Fergus, announcing £200 million for the trailblazing Acorn project, a project that brings together businesses across both the central belt of Scotland and the North East, and means thousands of jobs in vital CO2 pipelines [political content removed].
Which brings me to the second part of our plan, people. We’ve always said that this transition only works if working people believe in it and feel the benefits. That means good jobs backed by strong unions. It means young people embarking on exciting, rewarding careers in energy, and feeling that same sense of pride at being at the cutting edge of the energy transition. And it means bringing a sense of community back to industrial regions that have felt left behind.
Our Clean Power mission, it will deliver more than £40 billion of private investment every single year to meet our goal of clean power by 2030, but also to deliver on the industrial and economic opportunities that go with it.
And so, we will make sure that workers have the tools that they need to take up these new opportunities. That’s why we worked with the Scottish Government and with industry to launch the Skills Passport, making it easier and more straightforward for workers in oil and gas to move between roles. That idea has been talked about for years, but by working in partnership with both our governments and with industry, we were able to make more progress in a matter of months than we have done in years.
And here in Aberdeen, the UK government also launched a pilot program to offer tailored support and training to oil and gas workers, and to provide more support to move between roles. We have also recently announced plans for offshore wind developers to contribute directly into skills training.
Lastly, let me say something about what you can expect from this government.
There is a real diversity of opinion in this city and in this room, and that is a great thing. It is a healthy part of both our democracy and your industry, and we will work with every single one of you to achieve our shared goal, a prosperous North Sea and one that powers the UK’s energy future.
What drives us is a refusal to accept the status quo of the last decade [political content removed].
North Sea workers and this community deserve a government that says it’s time to invest in the future and manage this transition in a rational, cooperative way.
That is what this government is determined to do and working with you, we will make that a success.
Now, as I started with workers, let me finish there. The workers and community of the North Sea have been powering this country and fuelling our economy for more than half a century. There are always challenges, and it is dishonest to suggest there is any one answer that will fix everything. But we also need a sense of optimism at what the future holds. The potential of new technologies alongside old technologies allow this city to be leading the next half a century, just as the last.
And you don’t need to take that from me, this conference itself stands as a testament to that. Three huge halls, more than 500 companies, innovators and experts from across Scotland, the UK and the world, showcasing everything from floating offshore wind farms to the repurposing of offshore pipelines for hydrogen transport.
This is the energy transition in action [political content removed].
A plan which unites industry, and government and local communities.
A plan which helps us unleash the incredible potential of the North Sea.
So, we will not sit and wait for the future.
We will work with you to turn the potential and the city’s phenomenal skill and experience into the next chapter of our energy story, one that we can be just as proud of as the previous one.
The time to build that future is now.
Thank you.