North Sea Drilling Won’t Protect Europe from Global Price Shocks

When tensions around the Strait of Hormuz began rattling energy markets again, the reaction was entirely predictable. Tanker traffic slowed, insurance premiums rose, and oil and gas prices started climbing. But something else happened just as predictably. Across Europe, politicians and policy institutions began reviving familiar proposals: reopen gas fields, expand offshore drilling, reconsider domestic reserves that had previously been phased out. In the Netherlands, even the long-closed Groningen gas field has cautiously resurfaced in policy…