CLIMATE activists dressed as Daleks protested against fossil-fuel lobbying at the Offshore Energies (OEUK) conference in Aberdeen today.

Mimicking Doctor Who’s arch-enemies — catch phrase: “Exterminate!” — oil-exec-Daleks, holding petrol nozzles as “exterminators” and screeching fossil-fuel lobby catchphrases in the classic electronic voices of the evil cyborgs greeted participants arriving at the conference.

The protest was calling out fossil-fuel lobbying by oil and gas companies. The activists said: “Billions have been thrown at distorting the truth, deceiving the public, and sowing doubt” in the face of the climate crisis.

The conference was sponsored by BP and oil company supplier Baker Hughes; it comes as the government is consulting to put the North Sea at the heart of Britain’s energy future.

Levi Clark, a 38-year-old support worker and parent from Extinction Rebellion Scotland, said: “Fossil-fuel lobbying at conferences like this one is ‘exterminating’ the truth: I seriously worry for my children’s future.

“I’m from Aberdeen and have friends and family in the city. I care about what happens in the North Sea, it’s crucial for us all; a just transition is in everyone’s interest.

“The science is clear: we need to reduce fossil-fuel emissions now if we want a liveable future.”        

Freya Aitchison, of Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: “By backing greenwashing industries like carbon capture and storage and dirty hydrogen, OEUK is trying to lock us into decades more reliance on fossil fuels — with the sky-high energy bills and fuel poverty that go along with that, not to mention the devastating climate impact.

“A just transition has to be led by the workers, not fossil-fuel bosses and shareholders that have no interest in stopping oil and gas extraction.”