We heard earlier from government minister Andrew Bowie who mentioned the importance of energy security. Why is it considered so important?

Energy security was highlighted when Russia's invasion of Ukraine disrupted the gas market.

The reduction in Russian supplies increased demand for other countries' gas resources, causing global prices to soar, and pushing up consumer bills.

North Sea oil and gas production has been declining rapidly in recent years. In an effort to slow that trend, the government has confirmed it will award 100 new licences for oil and gas exploration. Hundreds more are expected to follow.

It argues that this will "secure our domestic energy supply and reduce reliance on hostile states".

Read more here.

Image source, BBC News

Do you have a question about carbon capture technology that you’d like our experts to answer?

You can also get in touch in the following ways:

• Email yourquestions@bbc.co.uk, external
• WhatsApp: +44 7756 165803

• Tweet: @BBC_HaveYourSay, external
• Please read our terms & conditions and privacy policy

In some cases a selection of your comments and questions will be published, displaying your name and location as you provide it unless you state otherwise. Your contact details will never be published.

Following this morning's announcement of new oil and gas licences being approved by the UK government, a couple of familiar names on the climate front have been in touch.

Oxfam UK says the decision is "wrongheaded", and calls the government's climate policy as "hypocritical" and "dangerously inconsistent".

Extracting more fossil fuels from the North Sea sends a "wrecking ball" through the UK's climate commitments, says Climate Change Policy Advisor Lyndsay Walsh, adding that people in low-income countries are suffering as a result of the actions of the wealthy.

Friends of the Earth said Rishi Sunak's decision is "pouring more fuel on the flames" of the unprecedented wildfires and heatwaves across the globe.

Head of Policy Mike Childs said the addition of carbon capture in the policy is a "green gloss".

"Even if it ever worked… [carbon capture storage] won’t capture all the climate pollution caused by burning fossil fuels or address the significant emissions that are created when gas and oil is extracted," he said.

Image source, PA Media

Now we've heard from former Scottish first minister Alex Salmond.

He welcomes the announcement but calls for the funding to be “offered immediately and scaled up”.

The Alba Party leader says: “There should be no celebrations until we see the colour of Rishi Sunak’s money.

“In the last 16 years successive Labour then Tory governments have committed to carbon capture projects in the north east of Scotland and then went back on their commitments.”

Salmond adds support has previously been pledged and then withdrawn for proposals dating back to the Miller project at Peterhead in 2007.

BP later abandoned plans for the plant, blaming UK government delays in support for its decision.

The ex-SNP leader also calls for all new oil and gas projects to have a carbon capture commitment.

Issuing a licence doesn't necessarily mean oil will flowpublished at 10:58 British Summer Time 31 July 2023

10:58 BST 31 July 2023

Mark Poynting
Climate and environment researcher

Oil and gas licences are awarded for companies to explore or produce oil and gas.

They are awarded by the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) - the UK body that regulates the oil, gas and carbon storage industries.

This is the 33rd licensing round, which began in 2022 under Liz Truss’ premiership. Eight licensing rounds have been announced since 2010.

This latest round is expected to award over 100 licences in total – a large number by historical standards, but not the highest ever.

These are production licences, according to the NSTA, which allows the licensee to explore for and then produce oil and gas.

But many of these production licences won’t actually lead to oil and gas being produced.

On average, it takes 25 years from the first discovery of oil and gas to the final investment decision - then another three years before oil and gas is produced.

We've heard from Andrew Bowie, minister for nuclear and networks. He says today's announcement of new oil and gas licences is "absolutely in line with our net zero commitments".

Bowie says he believes it's important oil and gas is taken from the North Sea, rather than relying on "foreign hostile actors like Vladimir Putin".

"It's about our energy security, but in no way it detracts from our drive to net zero."

Some reaction now from Scottish politicians.

The Scottish Greens describe the prime minister’s announcement of the new exploration licences as the “worst possible option”.

Mark Ruskell, the party’s climate and energy spokesman, says: “This is an utterly reckless decision that will leave a long and destructive legacy.

“It shows a total disregard for our environment and for future generations. If these licences go ahead it will be a big leap towards climate chaos.”

He adds the UK should be transitioning away from fossil fuels not choosing to “double down” on them.

The BBC News channel will be taking your questions on carbon capture at 12:30 BST.

Do you have a question on Rishi Sunak's announcement this morning? You can get in touch in the following ways:

• Email: yourquestions@bbc.co.uk
• WhatsApp: +44 7756 165803
• Tweet: @BBC_HaveYourSay, external
• Please read our terms & conditions and privacy policy

Image source, Getty Images

Industry is now reacting following the government announcing more support for carbon capture.

The board of Peterhead Port Authority, who runs the port near Aberdeen which provides services to the oil and gas sector, said they are delighted the Acorn project in Scotland's north-east would receive support.

“This is the opportunity for the north-east of Scotland – including the critical facilities at Peterhead Port – to lead the world in this new and innovative technology," the port's chief executive Simon Brebner said.

But energy trade union Prospect said the announcement does not go far enough, despite it welcoming the news about the Acorn project.

Sue Ferns, deputy general secretary, said: “A proper plan would put delivering good green jobs at the absolute heart of a long-term plan to deliver on net zero and energy security."

The Acorn project at St Fergus in Aberdeenshire would take greenhouse gas emissions and store it in depleted gas reservoirs under the North Sea.

Ione Wells
Political correspondent

The Tories narrowly held the seat of Uxbridge in the recent by-election there, and both Labour and the Tories attributed this to the London mayor’s planned expansion of ULEZ – a policy to charge heavily polluting vehicles to try to improve air quality.

Since then, the Tories have explicitly seized on issues facing motorists – and green issues generally – as a way they think they can draw a dividing line between them and Labour.

In the last few days, Rishi Sunak has claimed he is “on the side of motorists”, announced a review of Low Traffic neighbourhoods, and backed hundreds of new oil and gas licences for more drilling in the North Sea – to name a few examples.

Rishi Sunak argues he’s still committed to net zero, but wants to reach it in a way that’s “pragmatic” and “proportionate.”

But he’s facing tensions in his own party about this.

Some want him to water down the UK’s target to hit net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Others want him to go harder and faster when it comes to tackling climate change – with some senior Tories arguing that “grown up politics” is about seriously planning for the future and its consequences.

Joshua Nevett
BBC Politics

Image source, Number 10

As Rishi Sunak told us earlier, plane was his chosen mode of transport for travelling to Scotland this morning.

Taking a flight made sense, he said, “because it’s an efficient use of time for the person running the country”.

But the prime minister has faced accusations of hypocrisy for flying domestically, given his pledges to curb carbon emissions.

Domestic flights have a much larger carbon footprint per kilometre of travel than any other mode of transport, according to Our World in Data, external.

The Dassault Falcon 900LX jet is one of the RAF aircraft Sunak uses for domestic flights.

And although Downing Street has not confirmed the details of his journey, he’s likely to have used the aircraft again this morning. According to a flight tracker, external, a Dassault Falcon 900LX flew from Northolt to Aberdeen this morning.

The plane has now landed in Aberdeen, the flight tracker says, putting the journey time at one hour and five minutes.

Image source, PA Media

New oil and gas licences will bolster the UK's energy independence and economy for generations, energy security secretary Grant Shapps has said.

He stressed energy security was "more important than ever" so Putin "can never again use energy as a weapon to blackmail us".

Writing in a statement, he said: "Safeguarding energy bills for British families and providing a homegrown fuel for our economy that, for domestic gas production, has around one-quarter the carbon footprint of imported liquified natural gas.

"Our next steps to develop carbon capture and storage, in Scotland and the Humber, will also help to build a thriving new industry for our North Sea that could support as many as 50,000 jobs, as we deliver on our priority of growing the economy."

If you've just joined us, you might be wondering what carbon capture is following the news the government has announced up to £20bn of funding for it.

Professor Jon Gluyas, from Durham University, explains: "When you burn fossil fuels whether it's coal, oil or gas, of course you release carbon dioxide.

"And in carbon capture instead of letting that go into the atmosphere, it's taken out before the CO2 emits from the chimney.

"It's compressed and moved by pipeline to the North Sea or East Irish Sea and then buried deep two to three kilometres beneath the sea bed.

The new funding will pay for early deployment of carbon capture, utilisation and storage, with the Acorn project in Scotland’s north east now receiving support, along with the Viking project in the Humber.

Environmentalist and broadcaster Chris Packham says carbon capture is still a fledgling science.

Image source, .

The head of Oxfam Scotland has said the backing of new licensing rounds to drill for oil and gas in the North Sea was a "short-sighted and selfish decision by the UK government" which "flies in the face of climate science and common sense".

Jamie Livingstone said if these fields come on stream in the future, "they will deal another devastating blow to the millions of people in low-income countries".

He highlighted the UN's pledge to end the "global addiction" to fossil fuels, and said the decision "sends a wrecking ball through the UK's climate commitments".

He called on Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf to use devolved powers to "support a fair and much faster transition away from climate wrecking fossil fuels".

Scottish Labour's economy spokesperson Daniel Johnson says the UK government is coming very late to the table to invest in carbon capture.

"One can't help but feel this is a smokescreen," Johnson says, adding that Rishi Sunak is trying to "appeal to his right wing who don't believe in climate change".

He says Labour wouldn't issue new exploration licences in the North Sea, adding that a clear plan is needed to transition to net zero.

"We can't keep extracting more oil and expect to achieve our climate targets," he tells BBC's Good Morning Scotland.

Political correspondent Ione Wells explains the arguments for and against the new oil and gas licences.

She explains the government says the decisions are "in line with their net zero commitments" but that green campaigners argue that carbon capture is just a way to prolong the fossil fuel industry.

Environmental group Greenpeace UK has voiced its concerns over the new carbon capture project.

Its chief scientist, Doug Parr, spoke to Radio 4's Today programme a short time ago.

"We do think that this is going to be based on the continued use of fossil fuels, it's going to be based therefore on a greenwashing of the sector," he says.

Parr adds that a PR campaign would try to "persuade people that products and aims are environmentally friendly when they're not".

Here's the moment Rishi Sunak was asked whether he would be travelling to Scotland by private jet this morning...

Image source, Reuters

On the carbon capture project, the SNP's Westminster leader Stephen Flynn says he's very frustrated it's taken 18 years to get to this point, highlighting years of attempts to get funding.

Flynn welcomes the "positive" step today - but says "the devil will be in the detail" with "anything that comes from the UK government".

Asked about the hundreds of new licences for drilling in the North Sea, Flynn tells BBC's Good Morning Scotland that energy security needs to be taken into consideration given the hike in prices over the past few years.

But "the looming climate catastrophe that we face" also needs to be considered, he says.

Any new licences granted should have an "evidence-based" approach that takes into account the climate and wider energy security, he says.

Licences to drill for oil and gas are issued by the North Sea Transition Authority. It is currently running the 33rd round of licences.

In their press release this morning, external, the government says "the first of the new licences" will be awarded in the autumn. They expect this round to "award over 100 licences in total".

More broadly, the press release speaks of "hundreds of new licences" - meaning this latest round of licensing will not be the last.