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PP RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHLO #0991/01 0981512
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 071512Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY LONDON
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8175
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 0806
RUEHAH/AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT PRIORITY 0175
RUEHKB/AMEMBASSY BAKU PRIORITY 0207
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PRIORITY 2595
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LONDON 000991 

SIPDIS 

NOFORN 
SIPDIS 

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/01/2018 
TAGS: ECON ENRG SENV KGHG UK
SUBJECT: UK ENERGY MINISTER WICKS TELLS U/S JEFFERY THAT 
"HOMEGROWN" SOLUTIONS AND DIVERSITY OF SUPPLY ARE KEY 

Classified By: A/ECONMIN SANDRA CLARK FOR REASONS 1.4 B & D 

¶1. (C/NF) SUMMARY: UK Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks, 
Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform 
(BERR) told Under Secretary for Economic, Energy and 
Agricultural Affairs Reuben Jeffery that the UK was taking an 
assertive public and private position on climate change, but 
that energy security was equally important to HMG (if not 
necessarily to the UK public.) The UK will experience a 
severe decrease in North Sea gas and oil stocks by 2020, and 
will need to improve its diversity of supply as well as move 
towards "homegrown" measures such as nuclear and renewables. 
Wicks said the UK is concerned about Russia and Gazprom, and 
is working hard within the EU and with Caspian players to 
develop the Southern Corridor. END SUMMARY 

¶2. (C/NF) Minister Wicks told U/S Jeffery on March 31 that 
climate change and energy security went hand-in-hand for the 
UK, and stressed UK leadership on climate change issues were 
supported strongly by the British public. As evidence, Wicks 
pointed to a bill in Parliament targeting carbon emission 
reductions of 60% by 2050. Wicks stressed, however, that 
energy security was equally important for the UK, although 
less well-understood by the general public. The UK will see 
its indigenous gas and oil stocks drop by eight percent per 
year over the next several years, and will import 60-80 
percent of its oil and gas supply by 2020. To address this 
deficit the UK needs to ensure a diversity of supply, and has 
been in discussions with Qatar and Norway, Wicks said. 

¶3. (C/NF) In addition to diversifying supply, the UK is 
building up its "homegrown supply" of nuclear and renewable 
energy and is moving towards clean coal and carbon capture. 
Wicks, also a Member of Parliament, said the UK is seeing 
increased public and parliamentary support for nuclear energy 
due to climate change and security concerns. He added that 
the UK is also concerned about Russia/Gazprom, and is working 
with the EU to develop a more robust European policy. "The 
West needs to get smarter about energy", Wicks told Jeffery, 
and to focus more on Turkmenistan and the Southern Corridor. 

¶4. (C/NF) U/S Jeffery explained that the U.S. is working hard 
on energy issues, both domestically, and in support of 
European efforts to diversify supply and create new routes to 
markets. He explained it was important that the U.S. keep 
pace with European efforts to protect its own interests. 
Wicks expressed appreciation for USG support and commented 
that the more pipelines there were the more routes and 
trading relations for all of Europe, although the UK would 
benefit only indirectly (he said if the Southern Corridor 
were completed tomorrow very little gas would flow to the 
UK.) Wicks recalled being impressed during his September 
2007 visit to Turkmenistan with President Berdimuhamedov's 
openness to Western (and Chinese and South Asian) investment 
and Foreign Minister Merodov's intelligence, and noted 
relations between countries in the region are also improving. 
Richard Marriott, Senior Economist, BERR, stressed that the 
UK believes it is companies that build pipelines, not 
governments, but that the UK takes as a positive sign 
Berdimuhamedov's expressions of interest in working with 
others to improve his country's energy infrastructure. In a 
sign of UK-Caspian cooperation, the UK is bringing over a 
small delegation of Turkmenistani officials for meetings and 
an energy conference in mid-April. The UK will focus on 
educating the Turkmen on Production Sharing Agreements, and 
will take them to Aberdeen, Scotland to see the oil and gas 
facilities. 

¶5. (C/NF) Wicks said one of the challenges for Turkmenistan 
was dealing with diffuse, democratic governments and their 
independent private sector companies. President 
Berdimuhamedov had told Wicks that when China visited, they 
would bring a pipeline project in one hand, and the authority 
to ink the project in the other. However, when the West 
visited, the governments did not necessarily speak for the 
companies, and the decision-making process was much slower. 
The UK is currently focused on Turkey's role and said 
U.S./EU/UK pressure is helpful, and is determining what the 
market-based architecture of energy deals in the region would 
look like. Jeffery stressed the need to move forward with 
Nabucco now as a way to keep up the pressure to diversify and 
show the Caspian region that the West is interested and 
involved. In describing the need to cooperate with the 
private sector, Wicks mentioned the difficulties of 
determining whether certain UK energy companies were "batting 
for the UK" or working solely for themselves and protecting 
their interests vis-a-vis Russia. 

¶6. (U) Wicks will be in Washington April 6-7 for meetings 
with Energy Secretary Bodman before heading to Alberta Canada. 

¶7. (SBU) U/S Jeffery and Ambassador Tuttle also met on March 
31 with Tony Hayward, CEO, BP, to discuss the company's 
activities and Russian investigations. Hayward is heading to 
Moscow soon to meet with private and public players to assess 
BP's interests. 

¶8. (U) U/S Jeffery cleared this cable. 

Visit London's Classified Website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/london/index. cfm 
Tuttle