Statoil threatens UK gas reduction if renewables are pushed - report
LONDON - Norwegian oil and gas giant Statoil ASA (STO) has threatened to sell its North Sea natural gas elsewhere if U.K. energy secretary Chris Huhne wins his battle with the Treasury to expand renewables radically, and curb the growth of fossil fuel power plants, U.K. newspaper The Times reports Thursday.
"We will continue to develop new production in the North Sea, but the question is which market it finds its way into," Rune Bjornson, Statoil's natural gas executive vice-president, is cited as saying. "There are other places we can export the gas to apart from the U.K. We have the gas you need if you want it."
Statoil, which supplies about a quarter of the U.K's gas consumption from the North Sea, warned the country could become a less attractive market if renewables and nuclear power were favored at the expense of gas plants.
"The U.K. is one of the most challenging markets at the moment when it comes to reading the future energy policy," Bjornson said. "We are getting different signals from different parts of government--we don't know which opinion will prevail."
Dow Jones Newswires
10/27/2011