Brown's plan to lower oil prices by increasing North Sea production. Like eating the seed to stop the famine?

I'm no enemy of Brown. But surely you don't solve an oil crises by scrapping the bottom of the barrel further - it will only bring the end of British oil sooner.





Strikes me like a farmer filling his hungry belly by eating up all his seeds for next year's crop.





Discuss.Brown's plan to lower oil prices by increasing North Sea production. Like eating the seed to stop the famine?
You've answered your own question better than I couldBrown's plan to lower oil prices by increasing North Sea production. Like eating the seed to stop the famine?
Gordon Brown said yesterday that the Labour Party is doing everything it can to ease the problem.





';Lads, can you pump a bit more oil?'; - seems to me that if that's everything he can do we have a more serious problem than I thought we did!!





The problem (forgive me if I'm wrong) is not that there isn't enough oil it's that he taxes it too much - maybe instead of his (in)action to date he might like to think about reducing the tax on oil.





Can't afford to?


Low unemployment (he said) = less unemployment benefits


Less smokers = less cost to the NHS (he said)


Oil prices increase = more VAT for the Government


Ten years of ';reducing waste in Government'; (he said) = billions to spare





Come on, Gordon; what's the next excuse for mismanagement going to be????
Feckin strange this comment by Brown - especially when 60% of current North Sea production is being exported!!!!
I thought there was hardly anything left in the north sea.
Good old Gordon Brown. Cheerfully ignoring the issue that affects everyone right now for something that will affect us in the future. Getting extra oil out of the North Sea will not lower prices. The amount of overproduction that could be supplied will not even begin to dent the world market.





I'm surprised, really. Given that the government justifies fuel tax by calling it a tax on carbon emmisions, I'm amazed that they're encouraging oil production.





Given that up where my parents live petrol was, a month ago, 拢1.32 per litre and is probably more now, I'm sure the locals will be utterly delighted that Brown's great idea is not to reduce tax on fuel but to increase production... which will do precisely f' all for anyone except the government.





Funnily enough, the oil he's busily getting out will create millions more in tax paid directly into the Treasury. But will the Chancellor cut fuel tax? Will he shite. He'll delay his two pence on a litre tax rise for a while and claim it's highly generous. Then he'll shove it on later as quietly as possible
You should leave no well untapped.
Instead of increasing production we should stop selling it abroad,It belongs to the UK.
We suffer the same mentality here in the U.S.A. They want to drill in Alaska. Like that's really going to help.


You're right. It's scrapping the bottom of the barrel.
When it is boiled down!It is this political cretin Gordon Brown trying to look good on the National and International scene!You can only ease the oil problem when!The Middle East and Venezuala boost production and the US dollar goes up in value!I agree with the questioner!He is approaching in his usual way!Wrong!!
The point is that there is NO shortage of crude oil in the world


at the moment. There ARE supply issues, with countries like


Nigeria and Venezuela and there is a chronic shortage of refinery capacity. There are also many other factors affecting price, but in the case of the PM, like Tesco, every little helps!