London (Platts)--11Mar2008

UK energy minister Malcom Wicks on Tuesday said there was no alternative
to carbon capture and storage due to the amounts of fossil fuel that will be
burned in the world in the mid-term future.

Speaking at the International Utility Conference in London, Wicks said
that due to the "enormous amounts of fossil fuels that will be burned the
battle against climate change is already lost if we don't make fossil fuels
cleaner with CCS-technology as fast as we can."

According to Wicks, the UK therefore planned to commission the world's
first CCS demonstration plant. Several other countries were working on similar
plans

Wicks said he saw "no alternative course at all to develop CCS as
rapidly as possible and as politicians we must improve planning procedures for
large infrastructure projects which currently take far too long."

Wicks also said that in order to guarantee security of supply, "nuclear
power plants will be part of our strategy to become a more carbon friendly
energy company."

Beyond fossil and nuclear power, Wicks said renewable power will play an
increasingly important role in the UK's future power generation with biofuel
and offshore wind playing central roles.

According to Wicks, the UK currently has 2 GW of installed wind capacity,
or less than 2% of total generation, a share that is planned to rise to 15% by
2020. By comparison, Germany currently has around 20 GW of installed wind
capacity, or over 12% of total generation.

A further foundation of the UK's climate protection strategy, Wicks said
is the carbon trading scheme. However, Wicks said while the scheme "is
essential we need a higher carbon price."

Wicks warned that the costs of tackling climate change and security of
supply "will be reflected in energy bills, let's be honest about this" but
that he believes "that the UK's competitive market--which goes right down to
household levels--is the best customer protection keep prices under control."