The Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) of the UK came with a press release today, where the chairman of the OGA, Tim Eggar, in a speech called up the industry to act much faster and go farther in reducing its carbon footprint. The speech was held in a meeting of the MER UK Steering Group in Aberdeen on the 15th of January. The Mer UK Forum brings together the OGA, government and O&G industry.
In the transcribed speech attached to the press release, Eggar highlights that:
– Clearly, climate change is happening right now.
That debate is over.
– If the industry wants to survive and contribute to the energy transition it has to adapt.
– The most well regarded and objective analysis of the path to 2050 – the Committee on Climate Change’s ‘Net Zero’ report – points to oil and gas remaining an important and critical part of our energy mix for the foreseeable future, as we transition to net zero. Indeed, without gas we cannot transition to net zero.
– The oil and gas industry should be the leader in developing some of the solutions to tackling climate change, rather than continuously being seen as the problem or the blocker.
– It is quite feasible for the UKCS to be carbon negative by 2050.
Mr. Eggar also told the plans to mitigate this from the OGA’s side:
– We will be looking much more closely at flaring and venting, where we are responsible for issuing consents – using performance benchmarking which we know has helped drive positive changes in aspects of stewardship.
– We will increase our work with key stakeholders on energy integration opportunities with renewables, electrification, CCUS and hydrogen.
– We will take an ‘Area Plan’ approach to this where relevant – a model which has proved successful in helping unlock field developments and huge value across the basin.
– We will advance our digital agenda further with a new digital energy platform which will take our world-leading National Data Repository and other data offerings to the next level.
