Offshore Oil and Gas: Venting and Flaring

Lord Bishop of Norwich Excerpts

Tuesday 28th October 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Wilson of Sedgefield (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend for that question. He is absolutely right. We need to remember the previous Government’s record on this. Because we are heading for net zero, we are seeing massive investment in the clean energy industry, creating millions of jobs in the long term and investments of billions of pounds. It is the way forward for the country and for the world, and we should continue doing it.

[The Lord Bishop of Norwich]

My Lords, the Minister mentioned our ageing infrastructure. We have become a global outlier in leak detection and repair to stop methane leakages. Norway has monthly checks, the US has quarterly checks and Canada is bringing in monthly checks. What is our policy, and will it mandate these leak detection and repair testing regimes?

[Lord Wilson of Sedgefield (Lab)]

I thank the right reverend Prelate for his question. There are regular assessments of all this. As I said, the NSTA publishes data on its website highlighting flaring, venting and methane performance of different assets. We are well aware of the issues and are keeping on top of them. If there are any issues around this, especially on venting, fines of over half a million pounds can be set against the company involved.