Great Britain: Harsh Criticism of Net Zero Teesside Energy Project

It is a new gas power mega-plant that a tandem of multinational British Petroleum (BP) and Norwegian natural gas production and export monopoly Equinor (formerly Statoil) wants to build in northeast England. A new study, conducted by the British government and published by the Times newspaper, strongly criticizes the project named “Net Zero Teesside” (NZT Power), which a group of unnamed “experts” has called “responsible for more than 20 million tons of carbon emissions per year” despite promises to “use carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology to reduce emissions.”

Government experts emphasized that “this figure calls into question the real carbon neutrality of the project,” a fact that immediately raised concerns among environmentalists, who have long called on the British government to revoke the project’s permit and initiated lawsuits seeking a review of the decision.

The government report comes just as Norwegian monopoly Equinor has found itself at the center of fierce criticism in Europe, especially across the ocean, for its dominance of the Old Continent’s natural gas market. Yesterday (May 13), the US news agency Bloomberg published an unexpectedly critical article accusing the Norwegian gas giant of “replacing Gazprom in Europe that is once again dependent on a single supplier.” While Russia’s Gazprom supplied 35% of all gas consumed in Europe, the Norwegian oil and gas monopoly has now gained 30% of the market. According to Bloomberg, Norway sold two-thirds of its 109 billion cubic meters of gas to European consumers in 2023.

Analysts say the Sunak government’s sudden attack on the Norwegian giant and Bloomberg’s sharp criticism of Brussels’ energy supply policy are linked to the fact that US liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporters are losing out in the competition with Equinor for control of the European gas market. To reduce Equinor’s appetite, the green agenda was used, a necessity of our times: two of Equinor’s ten main investors will support the shareholder resolution, which – coincidentally – will be voted on Tuesday, May 14 at the company’s annual general meeting. The meeting will ask the oil company to “align its strategy with global climate goals.”

The resolution, submitted by an investor group led by UK-based Sarasin & Partners, requires the Norwegian oil and gas producer to indicate the extent, to which plans to develop new oil and gas reserves are consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement. Storebrand Asset Management and KLP – Equinor’s seventh and eighth largest shareholders, respectively – have already said they will vote in favor of the proposal.

It’s a series of “alarm signals” for Equinor’s operating executives after investors in Australia’s largest gas producer Woodside Energy rejected the company’s climate plan as “insufficient” during a general meeting of shareholders in April, while Shell’s minority shareholders presented an upcoming resolution ahead of a general assembly scheduled for May 21 that “urges the company to align its medium-term carbon reduction targets with the Paris goals.”