UK imported more than half its gas in first three months of 2021

Oil and Gas UK said there was a rise in demand coupled with a drop in UK production

The UK imported more than half its gas supply in the first three months of the year, the industry has said.

Oil and Gas UK's (OGUK) annual economic report said 56% of the requirement for homes and power stations between January and March came from abroad.

The industry said that was down to a rise in demand coupled with a drop in UK production due to the pandemic.

Scottish Green Party co-leader Lorna Slater told BBC Scotland it was time to turn to sustainable energy sources.

Ms Slater, whose appointment as a junior minister in Nicola Sturgeon's government was approved in the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday, said oil and gas needed to be "phased out".

It comes as OGUK said the UK faced the choice of investing in its offshore industry for a managed green transition or relying on other countries for its energy needs.

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Chief executive Deirdre Michie said: "Oil and gas provided nearly three-quarters of the UK's total energy last year.

"We will continue to rely on them to heat our homes, keep our lights on and create many of our everyday essentials.

"We all know that change is needed so the question is how fast we make that change. This report shows the reality that cutting off the domestic production of oil and gas faster than we can reduce demand risks leaving us increasingly dependent on other countries."

The report said the industry was ready to invest £21bn over the next five years into exploration and production.

It also said the oil and gas sector supported almost 200,000 UK jobs in 2021.

The Scottish Greens said fuel tax breaks for the aviation sector kept prices low and stimulated demand

But Ms Slater told the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme: "Current models of oil and gas demand neglect to look at how oil and gas demand is manipulated through tax breaks, through direct subsidies."

She said that fuel tax breaks for the aviation sector artificially kept prices low and stimulated demand.

She added: "We're definitely going to need to develop our renewable energy potential - luckily Scotland has enormous potential in this area.

"We do need to phase out oil and gas. The plan is to have a just transition."

'Doom-mongering'

Her sentiments were echoed by Friends of the Earth Scotland director Dr Richard Dixon who said: "Burning fossil fuels is the key driver of climate breakdown and every extra barrel of oil and gas produced speeds us closer to greater devastation.

"But we know the solutions, we must keep fossil fuels in the ground and urgently invest in energy efficiency and transitioning to renewable energy.

"The oil industry's doom-mongering ignores their responsibility for climate change and glosses over the fact that we are already on a path to phase out the big uses of fossil fuels for transport and heating homes".

On Tuesday, campaigner Greta Thunberg said she did not regard Scotland as a world leader on climate change.

The teenage Swedish activist said she was aware of the controversy about the Cambo oil field west of Shetland.

The UK government is still to make a decision about whether to give the go-ahead to the new development with pressure growing from climate change campaigners for it to be refused.

Sir Ian Wood, former chairman of the oil services firm Wood Group, said last week that Cambo needed to be given the green light so an energy transition could be carried out in an orderly way.

The Scottish government has previously described its climate change legislation as "world leading."

It includes a target to reach net-zero emissions by 2045.