US President-elect Donald Trump is not stopping at making loud foreign policy statements, despite the fact that there are still two weeks until his inauguration. This time he criticized the energy policy of Great Britain, demanding to “open” the North Sea and get rid of “windmills”.
More details about this and the reasons for a possible confrontation with London – in the material of RBC-Ukraine.
Trump against British offshore energy: what happened
The North Sea is one of the oldest oil and gas basins in the world, in which production has been declining since the early 2000s. At the same time, it has become one of the largest regions for the development of offshore wind energy.
“Great Britain is making a very big mistake. Open the North Sea. Get rid of the windmills!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account on Friday.
By “windmills” we mean the so-called offshore wind farms. Offshore wind farms are called offshore (from the English “offshore” – coastal) because they are built 10-12 km from the coast, because in the open sea the winds are stronger and more constant.
Trump attached a link to his post to a November report on the plans of the American oil and gas producer APA Corp to withdraw from the North Sea by the end of 2029. The company expects production in the region to fall by 20% year-on-year this year.
Commenting on his remarks, a spokesman for the British Labour government said it would continue to prioritise “a fair, orderly and prosperous energy transition in the North Sea in line with our climate and legal obligations”.
“We need to replace our dependence on volatile fossil fuel markets with clean energy produced in the UK – this is the best way to protect bill payers and increase our energy independence,” he added.
Also in response to Trump's statement, the shadow energy minister in the opposition Conservative Party, Claire Coutinho, stressed in a post on the social network X that “no major economy is shutting down its domestic oil and gas production… this is complete madness.”
Meanwhile, Western observers are already speculating on how, even before officially entering the White House, the future president is on the path to confrontation with British Prime Minister Kiir Starmer.
What is the reason for the North Sea controversy
Starmer's Labour government won the election on a promise to create a low-carbon economy for the UK. Among the stated goals is to quadruple offshore wind power capacity by the end of the decade. And the North Sea plays a key role in these plans.
What makes this region special? Exploration for oil and gas began in the 1960s, with commercial production beginning in 1975. Production peaked at 4.4 million barrels of oil equivalent in the early 2000s.
Since then, production has been declining as the fields have been depleted. According to the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), about 1 million barrels of oil equivalent were produced in the North Sea last year. And by 2029, production will fall to about 660,000 barrels.
In October, London raised a windfall tax for oil and gas companies in the North Sea from 35% to 38%. As a result, the overall tax rate in the sector has reached 78%, one of the highest in the world. It will be in effect until March 2030, and the government wants to use the funds for projects in the field of “green” energy.
The income tax was introduced by the Conservative government in 2022 after a sharp increase in energy prices associated with Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Oil and gas companies Shell, Exxon Mobil and Chevron are leaving the North Sea. Since the tax was introduced, they have sold assets and tried to focus on basins in other regions. Investment in oil and gas production is expected to decline by 30% to $10.5 billion by 2029.
There are now nearly 15 GW of offshore wind farms off the coast of Great Britain. It is planned to increase the capacity to 60 GW by 2030. The North Sea is home to the world's largest 3.6 GW Dogger Bank station, which is being built by Britain's SSE and Norway's Equinor. After completion of construction, it will generate enough electricity to supply about 6 million homes.
What does Trump's dissatisfaction mean and what can it lead to
Climate skeptic Trump has long been dissatisfied with wind turbines and opposes wind energy. He blames the turbines for killing whales and causing serious harm to human health. However, in his own style, that is, without providing any reliable evidence.
APA Corp's (Apache) withdrawal from the North Sea has only served as a pretext for an “attack” on Britain. But its views are at odds with London's policy, which places offshore wind energy at the center of its “green” energy and employment strategy. According to the report, wind farms generated 29% of the country's electricity last year. And what Trump calls “windmills” are now quite important for providing the UK with electricity.
“He is not speaking on behalf of the people of the UK, but from the perspective of his plan “storms, baby, storms” and on behalf of the bosses of the big oil companies who invested millions in his election,” The Guardian quotes the chief scientist of the British Greenpeace, Doug Parr.
According to him, the comments of the US president-elect betray “complete ignorance” about the situation in the British energy sector. And that jobs in the offshore sector have halved in 10 years, despite the issuance of 400 new licenses. This proves that the North Sea basin is in final decline.
Tessa Khan, executive director of Uplift, a group that advocates for a rapid exit from oil and gas, agrees that Trump is looking out for the interests of American oil and gas companies.
“His team is riddled with oil and gas interests who want the rest of the world, including the UK, to slow down their transition to clean energy and remain dependent on oil and gas for many years, just so they can continue to make a profit,” she said.
Even before his first term, Trump had a falling out with then-Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, calling him “crazy” for allowing a wind farm to be built next to his golf course in Aberdeenshire (one of the Scottish counties). In a war of words that escalated into a legal battle that Trump lost, he said it would turn Scotland into a “third world wasteland that investors will avoid”.
While Trump's future energy policy may have little to do with the UK directly, the political differences suggest fundamentally different views with Keir Starmer. That's not to say the two leaders won't find common ground, but the North Sea dispute could be the first clash between them.
In preparation for the text, the following were used: Donald Trump's post on the social network Truth Social, publications by Reuters, The Guardian, The Telegraph and the BBC.