Offshore staff
LONDON – North Sea trade association Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) has submitted a response to the UK Government’s consultation concerning a climate compatibility checkpoint for future UK offshore oil and gas licensing.
The proposed checkpoint will be conducted prior to each future oil and gas licensing process. The Government’s goal is to ensure new licenses are aligned with the UK’s climate change commitments, including attaining net zero by 2050.
OEUK’s response, which followed consultations with its member companies, noted that despite the introduction of various sustainable energy projects, all indications show a continued need for oil and gas to meet the UK’s energy requirements for several more decades.
The association maintains that the UK should aim to produce as much of this oil and gas as possible, to reduce the need for imports, support UK businesses and jobs – and also, to reduce Britain’s greenhouse gas emissions.
This is because emissions from the extraction, processing and transporting oil and gas across the UK Continental Shelf are in general lower than for imports, OEUK claimed.
The consultation follows last year’s North Sea Transition Deal, under which the industry committed to net zero emissions and to support cleaner energies while helping to meet Britain’s energy security needs.
OEUK added that the checkpoint should be part of a wider package of measures from the North Sea Transition Deal to safeguard long-term investment, energy security, and what it described as a “just transition.”
3/8/2022
