Shell’s message to Labour must be heard: now is not the time to abandon oil and gas, says ALEX BRUMMER

Labour’s energy guru Ed Miliband has been a missing factor in the election campaign.

Despite a row within the Labour Party over the withdrawal of an original £28bn annual spending budget for the transition to net zero emissions, Miliband is promising to fill a “leadership vacuum” on climate change on the world stage.

The Labour manifesto’s mission to “Make Britain a clean energy superpower” is everywhere.

Under pressure from Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves, pledges for new spending on green energy were cut to £5bn, a fraction of what is needed.

A Conservative plan to ban gas boilers from 2035 has been shelved, with no explanation given as to how the headline-making British energy company will cut household bills.

Onshore wind farms are one solution, but that means defeating “Nimbyism.”

The disputes between National Grid and local interests over new, larger power cables offer some insight into this.

The transition could be slowed rather than accelerated by the Labour Party’s moratorium on new oil drilling in the North Sea, coupled with windfall taxes on exploration companies. All of this will only boost investment by the big energy companies abroad.

Some of the most influential investors in green projects have been the oil majors. Both BP and Shell have been punished by shareholders for their green ambitions and are refocusing on fossil fuels.

Shell has revealed it is pausing construction of one of Europe’s largest biofuels projects in the Netherlands.

BP is suspending biofuel projects in Germany and the United States.

Since Wael Sawan took over at Shell in January, the company has abandoned renewable energy and hydrogen projects to focus on oil and gas. It has even considered moving its stock market listing from Britain to the United States.

Losing one of the UK’s biggest investors and taxpayers would be a calamity.

This is not to say that green investment is doomed to failure. Macquarie, a huge UK infrastructure investor, is pressing ahead with all sorts of projects.

It is experimenting with transforming its Roadchef outlets on highways into electric vehicle charging stations.

Reeves has made “securonomics” his watchword. At a time of geopolitical crisis, it would be madness to leave 10-15 billion barrels of oil reserves untapped in the North Sea, scare off Shell and not bet on nuclear power.

Revolut’s waiting game

Long before Andrew Bailey became Governor of the Bank of England, he was an enthusiast of British fintech talent.

He argued that if Brexit were to cost the City jobs, financial start-ups could fill the gap.

Few companies have more potential than Revolut, which doubled its revenue to £1.8bn by 2023, helped by rising interest rate income.

It is ironic that Bailey, now in charge of the bank, has undermined confidence in Revolut by delaying the granting of a UK banking licence.

The Prudential Regulation Authority has rightly been cautious given the company’s difficulty in producing reliable accounts for 2021 and 2022 amid questions from auditors.

However, Revolut is pressing ahead with a £400m share sale that could value the company at £32.3bn. If the licence is granted, it could list on the London stock exchange.

Data Rules

What will Bloomberg do with this? The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) is closing a deal with Dow Jones that will allow it to include reports from the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and the Dow Jones news agency on its platforms. Dow Jones will have access to LSEG’s data.

The chances of a full merger, when the future of Rupert Murdoch’s empire is finally decided, must be narrowing.