U.K. PM Johnson to Meet Oil and Gas Firms on North Sea’s Future

(Bloomberg) -- U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson will meet with key oil and gas producers to discuss the industry’s role in shoring up the country’s supplies, following up on a new energy security strategy announced by the government earlier this month.

The roundtable discussion was originally scheduled for May 4, but it has been postponed and will now take place in the coming weeks, according to people with knowledge of the meeting.

New oil and gas projects in the U.K. North Sea have dwindled in recent years as investors urged the industry to curb spending and environmental activists pressured it to tackle climate change. In a series of setbacks, Shell Plc’s Jackdaw gas project failed to get environmental approval from the U.K. regulator and the Cambo field was put on ice amid intense public opposition.

With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threatening fossil fuel supplies and sending energy prices higher, the government is now turning to the industry for help keeping domestic oil and gas resources flowing. It has introduced measures to spur new field developments in the North Sea, including the promise of a fresh licensing round later this year. 

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