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The oil industry has historically operated in relative invisibility. Mysterious offshore rigs hundreds of miles out to sea can appear like images of a foreign land; refinery chimneys rising beyond the edges of some of our biggest cities are easy to mistake for just another factory; and bustling offices, the site of monumental decisions affecting generations to come, are just as faceless as the next. Out of sight – and often out of mind.
But such invisibility belies the overwhelming, ever-presence of oil. It’s in the fuel that powers our cars and aircrafts. It’s in our children’s plastic toys and trinkets. It’s in unseen flows of power, wealth and social capital. It’s in our art galleries, and our sports teams. It’s embedded in our economic policy, our communities, the very structure of our country.
So, what exactly do we mean when we talk about oil? How is our relationship with it changing? And what would stopping oil really look like?
These are just some of the questions that we will explore in this series from Intelligence Squared, drawing on recent research from the Fraying Ties? project, supported by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council. Through discussion with industry insiders, policy-makers, activists, politicians, trade unionists, ex-oil rig workers and academics we look at the industry in its complexity and ask: given the climate emergency, how must the industry change to facilitate a just, renewable energy transition, and what might a new world – one in which we’ve ceased burning fossil fuels altogether – look like?
What exactly do we mean when we talk about oil? How is our relationship with it changing? And what would stopping oil really look like?
These are just some of the questions that we will explore in this series from Intelligence Squared, drawing on recent research from the Fraying Ties? project, supported by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council, and hosted by Dr Helen Czerski. Through discussion with industry insiders, policy-makers, activists, politicians, trade unionists, ex-oil rig workers and academics we look at the industry in its complexity and ask: given the climate emergency, how must the industry change to facilitate a just, renewable energy transition, and what might a new world – one in which we’ve ceased burning fossil fuels altogether – look like?
In this episode, Gavin Bridge from Durham University and James Marriott of Platform London and the co-author of Crude Britannia: How Big Oil Shaped a Nation are joined by former CEO of the Net Zero Technology Centre Colette Cohen OBE and former trade union organiser Jake Molloy for a conversation about the evolution of the oil sector in Britain and the different components that comprise it, including the offshore, refineries, trading and finance. Our panelists also explore the differing pace of change across the oil sector, the complexity this creates for the expansion of clean energy projects, and what must be done to ensure a rapid, and just, energy transition.
Other contributors include the co-founder of Extinction Rebellion Gail Bradbrook, Morgan Stanley’s Global Oil Strategist Martijn Rats, and Fuels Industry UK’s Director of Downstream Policy Dr Andy Roberts. The host is Dr Helen Czerski.
In this episode, Gavin Bridge from Durham University and Alexander Dodge from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology are joined by Keith Myers, the former President of Westwood Global Energy Group and an ex-BP exploration geologist, and Chatham House’s Valerie Marcel, for a conversation about who owns oil, and the implications of this for the energy transition. Our panelists also explore the history of current ownership structures in the North Sea; how these compare to other oil producing nations; and, how these structures – themselves the result of historic government policy – stymie policymakers’ influence in the North Sea today.
Other contributors: Nana de Graaff, an Associate Professor in International Relations at the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
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Keith Myers was President of Research at Westwood Global Energy until 2021.
