UK energy prices will continue to rise because:
As North Sea oil and gas declines the UK is no longer self sufficient in energy but relies on imports of gas from the Middle East, Norway and Russia (and some electricity from French nuclear power)
World energy prices are rising as population increases and developing countries want more:
Demand for oil
mbpd = million barrels of oil per day
| Current usagembpd | Current population | Barrels/person/year | |
| US | 20 | 310m | 24 |
| UK | 1.8m | 62m | 10 |
| China | 7.5m | 1339m | 2 |
| India | 2.7m | 1187m | 0.8 |
If China and India grow to UK levels of consumption at current population levels each would require an additional 30m barrels of oil per day
Demand for oil in China has risen at 15% a year in recent years
All the easy to get oil and gas has now been extracted – although there’s plenty more oil in tar sands and gas in shales this is very expensive and energy intensive to extract.
Where oil comes from
Middle East 15%
Saudi Arabia 12%
Russia 12%
US 10%
Other OPEC 9%
Mexico 4%
China 4%
Canada 4%
UK 2%
Everywhere else 28%
The UK is running out of generating capacity as power stations come to the end of their working life.