No new fields have been approved for three years, but the six likely to finally get the go-ahead this year could produce enough to power the UK for six months. Up to 25 more projects could be approved before the end of the year. 

It is ridiculous for the green lobby to complain that it harms the environment: all we would be doing is burning British fossil fuels rather than Russian ones. 

Next, we could lift the moratorium on fracking. There is no serious evidence it causes earthquakes, and there are vast reserves of shale oil and gas right across the North of England.

Just as with conventional oil wells, no one knows for sure how much is there until production starts, but some estimates suggest the Bowland-Hodder field alone could produce 4 trillion cubic metres of shale gas. 

And, of course, we could massively increase our investment in renewable energy. On a windy day, turbines already generate almost 30pc of the UK’s electricity.

We could double that, while adding in new projects such the long-discussed tidal barrage on the Severn (unlike the wind, the tide never takes a day off). It could provide 7pc of the UK’s energy and at only a quarter of the cost of the ever more irrelevant high-speed train from London to Birmingham. 

In reality, the UK, along with the other major European economies, needs to stop depending on a tiny handful of decadent, corrupt and autocratic petro-states to keep the lights switched on.

The US has made itself energy-independent. If we were simply willing to stand up to a pious, virtue-signalling green lobby we could do the same, and within just a few years.

The Saudis can increase production if they want to. At $110 a barrel they have plenty of incentive to do so. But a British Prime Minister shouldn’t be flying out to beg them – all he is doing is swapping today’s autocrat for tomorrow’s.