Offshore Oil and Gas: Venting and Flaring

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath Excerpts

Tuesday 28th October 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Wilson of Sedgefield (Lab)]

We have to be careful in what we say about Petrofac. This is an international commercial matter and not related to UK policies or contracts. The company has faced significant challenges that go back several years. It received a significant financial penalty of £77 million, imposed in 2021 by the Serious Fraud Office following a bribery probe. Certain group entities have also been impacted by loss- making contracts.

The UK arm of the company, Asset Solutions, is successful and growing and will continue to operate as normal, including for workers. It is a successful business that is well integrated into the UK supply chain. There will be an orderly process led by the administrators to find a long-term future for the whole of the business, including Asset Solutions. The UK Government are working with all parties to ensure that we do everything we can to secure those jobs. This is a commercial issue, but Asset Solutions, the company in the UK, is a going concern.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, on the issue of net zero and the North Sea, can my noble friend remind the party opposite that in the last period of their Government, the CBI showed that the green economy grew by over 9% as opposed to a miserable 1% in the economy generally? Does he not think that the party opposite’s attack on net zero is quite extraordinary, given the vibrancy of the net-zero economy?

[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.