Ithaca Energy chairman Gilad Myerson has spoken about the firm's mooted merger with Eni in a deal which could unlock the Cambo field.
In an interview with Energy Voice, he said he was confident that the next party in power, whichever that might be, will arrive “at the right decision” to support domestic oil and gas production.
Myerson said that, given the UK relies on oil and gas for around 80% of its energy – and 50% of its overall need is imported – there’s a decision to be made on whether to produce domestically or not.
“If we import energy, we are reliant on other countries for energy security, we are providing other countries with jobs, we are providing other countries with tax revenues, and we are increasing our own CO2 per barrel.
“With that in mind, the obvious conclusion is that the UK should be looking to generate its own energy, and generate its own oil and gas, rather than import."
He added: “The UK, we believe, will eventually make the right decisions because currently 80% of the UK’s energy is oil and gas, it’s not going to decline as fast as many believe, and therefore we want to be a core producer of energy for the UK.”
A merger with Eni would create a “powerhouse” in the UK sector to create one of the largest players in the basin, with more than 100,000 barrels of production per day and 650 million barrels of reserves. That includes stakes in 34 production assets including key hubs such as Cygnus, the J-Area and Elgin-Franklin.
The deal, should it go through, would see the merger of Ithaca Energy and Eni’s UK operations – the latter having recently acquired the business of Neptune Energy.
Both of these have significant operations in Aberdeen and Mr Myerson said the move could see everyone brought under one building.
Click here to read more of this interview in Energy Voice.