‘Grossly irresponsible’: UK hands out 24 new North Sea oil and gas licences
-The move to grant 17 companies the right to drill for fossil fuels is ‘a(chǎn) pipe dream’ that will do little for energy security, say environmentalists

“極度不負(fù)責(zé)任”：英國發(fā)放了24張新的北海石油和天然氣許可證
——環(huán)保人士說，授予17家公司開采化石燃料的權(quán)利是“白日夢”，對能源安全沒有什么幫助


(The North Sea regulator said 17 oil companies were granted licences in the Central North Sea, Northern North Sea and West of Shetland areas to “provide benefits to the local and wider economy”.)

（北海監(jiān)管機(jī)構(gòu)表示，17家石油公司獲得了在北海中部、北海北部和設(shè)得蘭群島西部地區(qū)的開采許可證，以“為當(dāng)?shù)睾透鼜V泛的經(jīng)濟(jì)帶來好處”。）
新聞：

Britain has handed major oil companies the right to drill for fossil fuels in 24 new licence areas across the North Sea as part of the government’s mission to extend the life of the ageing oil and gas basin.

英國已授予各大石油公司在北海24個新許可區(qū)域開采化石燃料的權(quán)利，這是政府延長老化油氣盆地壽命的任務(wù)的一部分。

The North Sea regulator said 17 oil companies, including Shell and BP, were granted licences in the Central North Sea, Northern North Sea and West of Shetland areas to “provide benefits to the local and wider economy”.

北海監(jiān)管機(jī)構(gòu)表示，包括殼牌和英國石油在內(nèi)的17家石油公司獲得了在北海中部、北海北部和設(shè)得蘭群島西部地區(qū)的開采許可證，以“為當(dāng)?shù)睾透鼜V泛的經(jīng)濟(jì)帶來好處”。

The latest licences, which follow an initial tranche of 27 licences offered in October last year, could begin producing oil and gas before the end of the decade, according to the North Sea Transition Authority.

北海過渡管理局表示，在去年10月發(fā)放的首批27張?jiān)S可證之后，最新一批許可證（企業(yè)）可能會在2030年前開始從事石油和天然氣生產(chǎn)。

The move has angered MPs and environmental campaigners who called the move “grossly irresponsible” and accused the government of overstating the economic benefits of the North Sea and sacrificing Britain’s climate leadership for “a pipe dream”.

此舉激怒了國會議員和環(huán)保人士，他們稱此舉“非常不負(fù)責(zé)任”，并指責(zé)政府夸大了北海的經(jīng)濟(jì)效益，并為了實(shí)現(xiàn)一場“白日夢”犧牲了英國在氣候變化方面的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)地位。

Graham Stuart, the minister for energy security and net zero, was forced to defend the government’s decision to encourage more North Sea oil and gas drilling despite signing up to a pledge to phase out fossil fuels at the Cop28 UN climate talks in December. He told MPs on the environmental audit committee that the new licences would be “good news in our transition to net zero”.

英國能源安全和凈零排放大臣格雷厄姆·斯圖爾特被迫為政府鼓勵更多北海石油和天然氣鉆探的決定辯護(hù)，盡管他在去年12月舉行的聯(lián)合國氣候變化大會上簽署了一項(xiàng)逐步淘汰化石燃料的承諾。他告訴環(huán)境審計(jì)委員會的議員，新的許可證將是“我們向凈零過渡的好消息。
原創(chuàng)翻譯：龍騰網(wǎng) http://www.top-shui.cn 轉(zhuǎn)載請注明出處


“If we didn’t have new oil and gas licences we would import new [liquefied natural gas] from abroad which is four times as carbon intensive as the gas produced here. I accept it’s counterintuitive but it’s not a complex argument to see it’s the right thing to do,” Stuart said. “New oil and licences strengthen our ability to get to net zero, they strengthen and support our climate leadership.”

“如果我們沒有新的石油和天然氣許可證，我們將從國外進(jìn)口新的（液化天然氣），其碳排放強(qiáng)度是國內(nèi)生產(chǎn)的天然氣的四倍。我承認(rèn)這是違反直覺的，但要證明這是正確的做法并不復(fù)雜。”斯圖爾特說。“新的石油和許可證加強(qiáng)了我們實(shí)現(xiàn)凈零排放的能力，它們加強(qiáng)和支持了我們在氣候變化方面的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)地位?！?/b>

The government has come under fierce criticism for its stated policy to extract as much oil and gas as possible from the North Sea after leading climate experts warned that fossil fuel production must end if global governments hope to curb the rise in global heating.

英國政府宣稱要從北海開采盡可能多的石油和天然氣，這一政策受到了激烈的批評。此前，主要?dú)夂驅(qū)＜揖娣Q，如果各國政府希望遏制全球變暖的加劇，就必須停止化石燃料的生產(chǎn)。

Philip Evans, a campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said: “The government knows that the fossil fuel industry is driving the climate crisis, but instead of cracking down on oil and gas giants like Shell, they’re greenlighting a new drilling frenzy in the North Sea.”

英國綠色和平組織的活動人士菲利普·埃文斯表示：“政府知道化石燃料行業(yè)正在推動氣候危機(jī)，但他們非但沒有打擊殼牌這樣的石油和天然氣巨頭，反而為北海的新一輪鉆探狂潮開綠燈。”

Critics have pointed out that the policy, which will raise billions for the Treasury in the short-term, will do little to secure Britain’s energy supplies or lower energy bills because the new licences will mostly produce oil which the UK typically exports to refineries in Europe.

批評人士指出，這項(xiàng)短期內(nèi)將為財(cái)政部籌集數(shù)十億美元資金的政策，對保障英國的能源供應(yīng)或降低能源賬單幾乎沒有什么幫助，因?yàn)樾略S可證將主要生產(chǎn)英國通常出口給歐洲煉油廠的石油。

Tessa Khan, the executive director of Uplift, which campaigns against fossil fuels, said: “This government is selling us a pipe dream. These new licences will do vanishingly little for the UK’s energy security and nothing to lower energy bills. In the last 13 years the government has issued hundreds of new licences, which have produced a grand total of 16 days’ worth of extra gas. And in the past decade the number of jobs supported by the oil and gas industry has more than halved.”

反對化石燃料的組織Uplift的執(zhí)行董事特莎·汗說：“這個政府正在向我們兜售一個白日夢。這些新許可證對英國的能源安全幾乎毫無幫助，對降低能源賬單也毫無幫助。在過去的13年里，政府已經(jīng)頒發(fā)了數(shù)百個新的許可證，這些許可證生產(chǎn)的額外天然氣總量只能滿足16天的需求。在過去的十年中，油氣行業(yè)提供的工作崗位減少了一半以上?！?/b>

The industry’s trade group, Offshore Energies UK, said the new licensing rounds would help to provide an orderly transition for the industry, which continues to support about 120,000 jobs.

該行業(yè)貿(mào)易組織英國離岸能源公司表示，新一輪的許可證發(fā)放將有助于為該行業(yè)提供有序過渡，該行業(yè)將繼續(xù)支持約12萬個就業(yè)崗位。

David Whitehouse, the chief executive of Offshore Energies UK, said: “We have over 280 oil and gas fields but by the end of the decade 180 of them will have stopped producing. We need the churn of licences for an orderly transition that supports jobs and communities across the country and meets our energy needs.”

英國離岸能源公司首席執(zhí)行官戴維·懷特豪斯表示：“我們有280多個油氣田，但到2020年，其中180個將停止生產(chǎn)。我們需要大量的許可證來實(shí)現(xiàn)有序的過渡，以支持全國各地的就業(yè)和社區(qū)，并滿足我們的能源需求。”

Khan said: “What workers and the public urgently need is a government that has a coherent transition plan so workers don’t get left behind, and a laser-like focus on bringing down people’s energy bills.”

汗說：“工人和公眾迫切需要的是一個有一個連貫的過渡計(jì)劃的政府，這樣工人就不會落在后面，并且如激光一般聚焦于降低人們的能源賬單。”

Bob Ward, the policy and communications director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics, said: “This is grossly irresponsible and undermines the best interests of the UK. The licences will not reduce energy bills or make us more energy secure. But they will further destroy the UK’s international reputation on climate change.

倫敦政治經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)院格蘭瑟姆氣候變化與環(huán)境研究所政策與溝通主任鮑勃·沃德說：“這是非常不負(fù)責(zé)任的，損害了英國的最大利益。這些許可證不會減少能源費(fèi)用，也不會使我們的能源更加安全。但這將進(jìn)一步破壞英國在氣候變化問題上的國際聲譽(yù)。
原創(chuàng)翻譯：龍騰網(wǎng) http://www.top-shui.cn 轉(zhuǎn)載請注明出處


“This announcement will, however, undermine the confidence of investors in alternatives to fossil fuels and reduce our competitiveness in the new sustainable industries. This also suggests that the UK government did not act in good faith when it signed up to the collective decision at the Cop28 United Nations climate change summit in Dubai in November to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels.”

“然而，這一聲明將削弱投資者對化石燃料替代品的信心，并降低我們在新的可持續(xù)產(chǎn)業(yè)中的競爭力。這也表明，英國政府去年11月在迪拜舉行的聯(lián)合國氣候變化峰會上簽署了加速從化石燃料過渡的集體決定，卻并沒有真誠地采取行動?！?br />
原創(chuàng)翻譯：龍騰網(wǎng) http://www.top-shui.cn 轉(zhuǎn)載請注明出處