FirstFT: UK fires starting gun on North Sea oil and gas explorations

UK regulators in the present day fired the starting gun on a new round of licences enabling firms to probe for oil and gasoline within the North Sea, as local weather campaigners threatened a authorized problem.

The North Sea Transition Authority is predicted to award greater than 100 permits to firms by the tip of June as the federal government seeks to bolster Britain’s vitality self-sufficiency, partly by extracting extra fossil fuels from the North Sea, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

However environmental group Greenpeace claimed the licensing spherical was doubtlessly “illegal” and indicated it will attempt to launch a authorized problem.

Local weather campaigners have mentioned the federal government’s efforts to safe extra oil and gasoline from the North Sea conflicts with its dedication to succeed in web zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Licensing rounds was a near-annual occasion. However a pause was launched after the final spherical in 2019-20 as the federal government promised to design a “local weather compatibility test” to make sure that allow awards have been “per the UK’s wider local weather aims”.

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5 extra tales within the information

1. US: ‘nothing off desk’ in response to Opec+ oil cuts The White Home mentioned no action was off the table a day after the Saudi Arabia-led cartel unveiled sharp cuts to international oil provide, because it thought-about new releases from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve to comprise vitality costs.

2. EU and Norway agree ‘joint instruments’ to sort out gasoline disaster Oslo mentioned it will work with Brussels to develop instruments geared toward reducing high gas prices forward of a looming vitality disaster this winter. Norway has changed Russia because the EU’s largest provider of gasoline for the reason that invasion of Ukraine.

• Extra on vitality: The UK is poised to sign a deal with an EU vitality partnership it left after Brexit, within the first results of warming ties with Brussels.

3. London’s most costly dwelling ‘owned by Evergrande founder’ The 45-room mansion overlooking Hyde Park is owned by Hui Ka Yan, the top of the embattled Chinese language property group and previously China’s richest man, in response to folks acquainted with the secretive £210mn sale.

4. BoE says £65bn gilt intervention averted monetary ‘spiral’ The UK central financial institution defended final week’s emergency intervention within the authorities debt market within the wake of Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s “mini” Price range, saying it stepped in to stop a £50bn hearth sale of gilts by pension funds that might have taken Britain to the brink of a financial crisis.

• Opinion: The turmoil in gilts exhibits that governments elsewhere must work tougher to maintain markets on their facet, writes Katie Martin.

5. Gotham and Portsea founders be a part of forces in brief promoting fund Two of the largest names in brief promoting are joining forces to launch a new hedge fund subsequent 12 months, betting {that a} downturn in markets will assist them replicate profitable wagers towards firms akin to Wirecard and Steinhoff.

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The times forward

EU Prague summit Member states will focus on limiting energy price rises at a casual European Council assembly. A rising variety of international locations have backed a cap on gasoline costs.

Financial knowledge Jobs would be the focus within the US, the place the labour division’s September payroll report is predicted to indicate slower hiring in September and the unemployment fee close to a file low of three.7 per cent. The UK publishes its quarterly productiveness overview, the Halifax month-to-month home worth index and a month-to-month employment report. Italy has August retail gross sales.

Company earnings JD Wetherspoon releases its fiscal year report.

Scottish Nationwide Social gathering convention Scotland’s largest political occasion begins its 88th annual gathering in Aberdeen tomorrow. First minister Nicola Sturgeon is ready to ship a keynote speech.

UK prepare strike One other 24-hour walkout shall be held tomorrow by RMT union railway staff in a dispute over jobs, pay and dealing situations.

Elections It’s one other weekend of polls, beginning with a common election in Lesotho in the present day during which outgoing prime minister Moeketsi Majoro is just not operating. Austrians forged ballots in presidential elections on Sunday, when incumbent Alexander Van der Bellen defends his six-year time period. Germany holds a state election in Decrease Saxony the identical day.

What else we’re studying

The place local weather change isn’t international: auditing Auditors have highlighted local weather change as a difficult problem in vetting some firms’ accounts — however not persistently. It might be that auditors, given a alternative, are avoiding a hot-button issue whereas they nonetheless can, writes Helen Thomas.

How the price of residing disaster is squeezing UK households One-fifth of Britons say they’re being compelled to borrow extra to satisfy their funds, with half unable to avoid wasting in any respect, as households are feeling the pain of the price of residing disaster. Discover how surging inflation is shaping spending and borrowing choices on this sequence of charts.

Iranian college students are shaping anti-regime protests For the primary time in years, Iran’s universities have re-emerged because the centre of shock over the dying in custody of a girl arrested for allegedly violating the Islamic costume code. Regardless of crackdowns, the protests have continued to spread.

Time for traders to study a brand new sport If something is obvious from latest turmoil within the UK authorities bond market and gyrations in sterling, the occasions are severely out of joint. What can we do about it? Purchase property, contemplate inexperienced investments and delay retirement, John Plender writes.

Greatest US cities for international enterprise, ranked Miami has been ranked the best city in the US for foreign multinationals to do business, within the inaugural Investing in America rating compiled by the Monetary Instances and Nikkei. Final 12 months, the Florida metropolis pulled in essentially the most international direct funding per capita of anywhere studied.

Vogue

Think about sneakers the footwear equal of Fb: considerably passé now that they’re pervasively co-opted by child boomers and billionaires. Millennials and Gen Z are retiring their trainers to revisit formal shoes — even with leisurewear.