Data from the Office for National Statistics analysed by DeSmog has revealed that the UK fossil fuel imports from authoritarian petrostates surged to £19.3bn in the year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
According to the data, efforts to end the purchasing of oil and gas from Russia appear to have resulted in a surge in imports from other authoritarian regimes, including Algeria, Bahrain, Kuwait, Libya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Last month, the trade and business secretary, Kemi Badenoch, travelled to the Middle East to “boost trade ties” with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a six-country trade bloc comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Trade between the UK and the GCC hit a record high of £61.3bn in 2022.
In her speech to the Conservative party conference in October 2022, the then UK prime minister, Liz Truss, said that the UK had “become too complacent” and “too dependent on authoritarian regimes for cheap goods and energy”. However, it appears that the UK has diverted its spending from Russia to other states accused of human rights violations and engaged in brutal conflicts.
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Available reports show that Fossil fuel imports from Russia fell from £600m in February 2022, the month Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine, to zero in January 2023. However, this was compensated for by a more than 60% annual increase in fossil fuel imports from other authoritarian petrostates.
Recall that last year, the amount spent by the UK on energy imports topped £100bn for the first time on record, with DeSmog’s analysis indicating that the UK spent more than £125.7bn on fossil fuel imports in the year beginning February 2022.
In order to achieve net zero, the International Energy Agency has stated that the world must achieve “huge declines in the use of coal, oil and gas”, requiring “nothing short of the complete transformation of the global energy system”.
The UK imported £6.9bn of fossil fuels from Qatar, £3.4bn from Saudi Arabia, £2.6bn from Kuwait, and £2.5bn from the UAE.
“While cutting our dependence on Russian fossil fuels is both necessary and laudable – albeit with little actual choice – it is a half-measure if only aimed at reducing fossil fuels from Russia,” Dominic Kavakeb, of the human rights and environmental pressure group Global Witness was quoted as saying.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
