Overseas oil giants including Norwegian state owned Equinor are in line for a share of a £22billion UK Government handout to develop “unproven” carbon capture technology.
Fuel poverty campaigners last night branded the plan a greenwashing con with as firms which have raked in mega-profits during the energy crisis now set to receive enormous taxpayer subsidies.
They warned the UK Government policy could add nearly £600 to average energy bills – in a betrayal of voters who were promised bills would be slashed.
Friends of the Earth Scotland climate campaigner Alex Lee said: “Carbon capture is a greenwashing con by the oil industry and the UK Government are not only falling for it but expect households to stump up the cost of it.
“Greedy oil firms have already gotten so rich from exploiting our needs and now we’re all expected to pay to keep their climate-wrecking business going.
“This industry has already swallowed billions in public money around the world while delivering a desperate legacy of failure and pollution.”
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) tech aims to suck harmful carbon dioxide from the air as fossil fuels are burned before it can get into the atmosphere.
The captured greenhouse gases are then piped underground such as to empty oil wells under the North Sea.
Getting carbon capture to work at scale is crucial for both the Scottish and UK governments’ net zero targets.
But green groups say the tech has been dogged by repeated technical problems and cost overruns since it was first mooted nearly 50 years ago including a proposed Scottish cluster in Aberdeenshire.
Earlier this month, the House of Commons’ Public Accounts Committee said it was “unproven technology” and likely to have an impact on bills.
In a report, MPs said three-quarters of the £22billion pledged for UK projects would come from levies on consumers and the other quarter from general taxation.
Equinor, which is partly owned by the Norwegian state, is the UK’s biggest gas supplier and also the firm behind the controversial Rosebank oil field off Shetland.
The largest untapped reserve in the North Sea, drilling at Rosebank is currently blocked after a Scots judge ruled its approval by the former Tory government was unlawful.
Equinor has made an eye-watering £135billion in profits since 2020. UK-headquartered BP has raked in some £46billion over the same period.
Together, both multinationals are behind the Net Zero Teesside scheme to build a new gas-fired power station in north-east England equipped with CCS technology – with BP holding a 75 per cent stake and Equinor 25 per cent.
BP and Equinor also each own a 45 per cent stake in a scheme to build new pipelines from Teesside to the North Sea for the captured gas, with the remaining 10 per cent share held by French oil multinational TotalEnergies.
In Scotland, the proposed carbon capture ‘cluster’ in the north-east has had financial backing from state-owned Dubai oil giant ADNOC.
Fuel Poverty Action campaign lead Stu Bretherton said: “To stick further costs onto our energy bills to pay for unproven and false climate tech like carbon capture is a betrayal to voters.”
A Department for Net Zero and Energy Security spokesman said: “Carbon capture, usage and storage is vital to boost our energy independence, and the Climate Change Committee describes it as a ‘necessity not an option’ for reaching our climate goals.
“There is no route to protecting jobs in our industrial heartlands and securing the future of heavy industry in the UK without it.
“This funding will see our industries remain competitive in the global economy, kickstart growth and lead the world in a ground-breaking clean energy technology.”
Equinor referred to us BP as lead company in the Teesside project. BP was approached for comment.