Scotland: North Sea Oil Can’t Fill The Russian Supply Gap

North Sea oil and gas fields cannot in the short term fill the gap that Russia is leaving in the UK and global supply of crude, because expanding production would take years, Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Thursday. Alongside the U.S. ban on imports of Russian energy, the UK said on Tuesday that it would "phase out imports of Russian oil in response to Vladimir Putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine by the end of the year." Russian imports account for 8 percent of total UK oil demand, with the highest share in diesel, the UK…