Energy Security and the Avoidance of Blackouts

That the Parliament notes with concern reports both that Britain’s gas storage levels are concerningly low and that the UK came within 580MW of demand control or power outages recently; understands that the national grid operator, National Energy System Operator (NESO), had to issue an alert on 8 January 2025 to encourage market actions to increase system margins, in order to address concerns that energy demand might outstrip available energy supply; believes that these events suggest that UK Government policies are not providing adequate energy security for Scotland or the UK; further believes that energy security concerns are exacerbated by what it sees as a hostile environment created by successive UK administrations towards the North Sea oil and gas industry; considers that oil and gas will be required for years to come in order to achieve a just transition to net zero, and that importing oil and gas, rather than using Scotland's own resources, would be foolish, and calls on the UK Government to take action to support the oil and gas sector to help Scotland achieve its net zero ambitions and to ensure that potential blackouts can be avoided.