The Prime Minister hopes to reach an agreement with Joe Biden this month that could see the US supply billions of cubic feet of natural gas to Britain in the coming months to help reduce the energy crisis triggered by Vladimir Putin.
The deal, which was initiated by Liz Truss, would shore up the UK’s energy supplies and lower the chance of blackouts, which the National Grid has warned are likely this winter.
Ironically, this would make the United Kingdom more reliant on gas produced by fracking, just weeks after Rishi Sunak reimposed a prohibition on the controversial technology in the UK.
Around two-thirds of US gas is now produced by hydraulic fracturing, which has turned America back into a net exporter of energy in current years.
Andy Mayer, energy analyst at the Institute of Economic Affairs think tank, said exploiting the UK’s vast reserves of shale gas would be more environmentally friendly than importing supplies from the US and would generate enormous tax revenues and economic activity.
He said banning UK fracking while striking deals to import US-fracked gas prioritised climate posing over climate action and it reduced our energy security, risked higher bills and undermined public finances, and he said that imported gas, cooled and sent in vast tankers, had a higher carbon footprint than gas drilled at home.
He said that anti-fracking campaigns were not environmentally sound when we remain reliant on fossil fuels for 75 per cent of our primary energy and that Downing Street confirmed talks about a deal were underway but refused to comment on the details.
The PM’s official spokesman said the US was a country where there was more that they could do together to tackle energy price spikes. He added that they were still consulting with the US on what the right approach might be.
One government source said Rishi Sunak was likely to discuss the issue with Joe Biden at next week’s G20 summit in Indonesia. The United Kingdom is also in talks with both Norway and Qatar about long-term gas supply deals.
Ministers hope the new energy security partnership with the US could be sealed as early as this month. Meanwhile, former Cabinet minister Lord Frost also said there was a degree of hypocrisy in attempting to import more fracked gas while banning its extraction in the United Kingdom.
We have plenty of our own fracked gas, but evidently, it’s not environmentally friendly, but it’s okay to buy it from the US, that’s bonkers. Let’s not make our own energy, let’s ban it and then spend double somewhere else.
Rishi Sunak is off again giving billions away. Meanwhile, people can’t afford to put their central heating on, while Rishi is wealthy enough to heat his own pool and buy from Waitrose, he’s not one of us and never will be.
Ah yes! Let’s abandon our own self-sufficiency and make other countries richer to appease the swampy people holding this country hostage.
Words just can’t express my frustration with this government. How can Rishi Sunak tell us with one hand that we’re facing a 40-50 billion Armageddon hole, but then send billions overseas to help them cope with climate change and anyone who proposes Net Zero should be ostracised? And it looks like the US has got us over a barrel, just like Vladimir Putin.
Fracking is not ideal, and getting it from the US is even worse, but the United Kingdom possibly will be in blackout this winter if something isn’t done soon, and I would rather that a deal was secured so that British homes will remain warm this winter. It of course also boosts Joe Biden’s odds of winning a second term as President of the United States.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 