UPDATE: UK Approves Development Of Apache's Bacchus Oil Field - WSJ.com

LONDON (Dow Jones)--The U.K. government has approved the development of Apache Corp.'s (APA) Bacchus oil field in the North Sea, the Department of Energy and Climate Change said Monday in a statement.

Interest in North Sea exploration booms - Business News, Business - The Independent

As BP struggles in the ultra-deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, interest is booming closer to home with an unprecedented response to the latest North Sea licensing round.

A record 356 exploration licences were granted in the most recent round, the Energy minister, Charles Hendry, revealed yesterday, along with the official approval for Apache’s development of the 18-million barrel Bacchus field in the central North Sea. Mr Hendry said: “The North Sea remains an important hub for investment and will continue to be at the heart of UK energy security for years to come.”

Green Jobs Threatened By Government Cuts | The Energy Collective

Green jobs could be threatened by UK government spending cuts it has emerged this week.

The Press Association: Warning over climate change 'taxes'

Households are typically being charged more than £80 a year in hidden taxes to help combat the impact of climate change, research has suggested.

The average household pays £84 a year in hidden taxes on their energy bills and the figure looks set to rise, according to price comparison website uSwitch.com.

Energy Tribune- The EU’s Solar Science Fiction

European officials are either using science fiction to divert attention away from the block’s institutional disarray or they’ve simply lost touch with reality in their Brussels bunker.

Why else would EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger predict that “some hundreds of megawatts” of solar power generated in the Sahara will be available in Europe within five years? That is beyond unrealistic. And it illustrates one of the EU’s biggest problems: credibility.

[All of the above via Benny Peiser]