Offshore staff
LONDON — Britain’s North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) has granted approvals for Centrica Offshore UK for Phase 1 of the Rough gas storage site in the southern North Sea.
Centrica now has all the required consents to resume gas storage at the facility, having ceased activity the last few years due to high operating costs.
There are two gas platforms at Rough, connected to the Easington terminal on the Yorkshire coast.
Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) has warned that the UK will be almost entirely dependent on imported oil and gas within the next 15 years unless the government sanctions new offshore licenses and investments.
The association was responding to reports that Liz Truss, hotly tipped to be named new conservative leader and UK Prime Minister next week, plans to grant 130 new drilling licenses this fall.
OEUK Sustainability Director Mike Tholen said, “The European energy sector right now is cracking at the seams. Without the contribution of UK oil and gas resources, that crack would be a gaping hole.
“New oil and gas licenses and investment here means the UK and Europe is less likely to have to scramble for international supplies or return to using other fossil fuels, with all the implications that would have for cost, emissions, and national security.
“We are doing this while ramping up investment in clean electricity but also finding solutions for the 75% of our energy system, which uses oil and gas for fuel, power and heating.”
08.31.2022
