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Scottish companies involved in the oil and gas sector, as well as renewables, will be anxiously waiting to hear what emerges in the UK's energy security strategy now due out this Thursday.

The plan was originally expected to be unveiled last month, but is thought to have been delayed due to Treasury concerns over costs.

It is understood to include strategies for nuclear energy and renewable energy, proposals to make homes more energy efficient and a route to increasing North Sea oil and gas production.

At the weekend, it was revealed that Britain could build up to seven new nuclear power stations as part of a radical expansion of home-grown energy following Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, in an interview with the Telegraph, said "there is a world where we have six or seven sites in the UK" by 2050 as part of a push for self-reliance.

Ministers have agreed to set up a development vehicle, Great British Nuclear, to identify sites, cut through red tape to speed up the planning process and bring together private firms to run each site.

As a first step, Boris Johnson is preparing to announce plans to significantly expand the existing commitment to back one new large-scale nuclear power station by 2024.

The Prime Minister and Mr Kwarteng are reported to have been battling with Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, to secure funding for new plants.

However, a meeting between Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak last Wednesday is said to have ended in agreement on expanding Britain's existing set of ageing nuclear plants - all but one of which are due to be decommissioned by 2030.

The energy security strategy is expected to commit the UK Government to supporting the construction of at least two new large-scale plants by 2030 in addition to small modular reactors.

A government source told the Telegraph: "Nuclear will definitely look larger in the British energy mix by the end of this decade."

Mr Johnson and Mr Kwarteng then want to more than treble the country's existing seven gigawatts of nuclear capacity to 24 GW by 2050.

Mr Johnson is also said to have used a round table with renewable energy firms last week to urge the industry to build a "colossal" offshore wind farm in the Irish Sea within 12 months.

The Prime Minister told industry leaders he has "a dream" that a giant floating wind farm could provide "gigawatts of energy and do it within a year".

FTSE 100

The top UK share index, the FTSE 100, was up five points at 7,542 shortly after trading started today. It ended Friday up 22 points.

Brent crude futures were down 0.46% at $103.91 a barrel earlier this morning.

Companies reporting today

  • Finals: Provident Financial

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