The UK government has confirmed support for a new oil and gas licensing round.

The government’s response to the consultation on the UK Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment 4 (OESEA4) Environmental Report has been published. This will pave the way for future licensing or leasing for offshore oil and gas, offshore gas and carbon storage, offshore renewables, and offshore hydrogen, in relevant waters of the UK Continental Shelf.

A new oil and gas licensing round is expected to be launched by the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) in early October. The new licensing round is expected to lead to over 100 new licences. Under the new licensing round, the NSTA is expected to make a number of new ‘blocks’ of the UK Continental Shelf available, for applicants to bid for licences.

Following the announcement from the Government, The Daily Telegraph [paywall] has said that North Sea licences are to be sped up in race for more oil and gas. The paper also cited insiders stating ‘urgency’ amid renewed focus on energy supplies.

Meanwhile, a video, passed to the Guardian by a whistleblower, shows Secretary of State Jacob Rees-Mogg telling an all-staff meeting that the public needs to be persuaded that fossil fuels are the answer. Rees-Mogg has told staff of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Britain “must get every cubic inch of gas out of the North Sea”.

Rees-Mogg said the mission of his department would be to “get back to national security within energy so using as much of our own resources as is possible”, adding: “It is unquestionably more environmentally friendly to use our own gas which doesn’t have to be liquefied, doesn’t have to be transported thousands of miles, than it is to pull in gas from overseas, and if we want therefore to be both prosperous and green we need to use our own resources.”

He added: “And that is why I have said we have to get every cubic inch of gas out of the North Sea, because actually it’s better for our economy and it’s greener. And this will be a challenge for us to get out to the country because one side will say we are not being austere enough, and the other will say we are not being free market enough.”

It isn’t the first time Rees-Mogg has used such language. In July this year he said the UK should ‘extract as much as possible from North Sea oil fields’ and back in April he said that Boris Johnson’s government wants “every last drop” of oil and gas to be extracted from the North Sea.

Rees-Mogg’s team said the secretary of state and the prime minister believe exploiting our domestic oil and gas reserves is vital for energy security and supply, and that they believe it is greener to use our own sources than importing from abroad. The full story in the Guardian can be read here.