Intervention needed in energy markets

LONDON, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Government intervention in the British energy sector is needed to provide security for oil and gas supplies as indigenous options dwindle, analysts say.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said in a July report that regional initiatives in the energy sector tackled many of the looming questions related to climate change, but did little to address energy security.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown tasked former Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks to develop an assessment of the national energy policy.

Wicks, in a report published by the Department of Energy and Climate Change, says that "market innocence" is a thing of the past, recommending the government move to oversee energy matters, The Financial Times reports.

Britain is expected to look to imports to provide as much as 70 percent of its gas needs by 2020, erasing self-sufficiency declared just five years ago.

That will link Britain to regional economies, which may expose the system to political maneuvering.

"We must still rely on companies for exploration, delivery and supply but the state must become more active: interventionist, where necessary," Wicks concludes.