North Sea oil and gas to go green by 2050
● Carbon capture and hydrogen gas among measures to reach net-zero
Carbon capture and storage schemes, an increasing focus on renewable energy and a shift from natural to hydrogen gas are among bold measures that will enable the North Sea to decarbonise, according to representatives for the country’s oil and gas sector.
The actions are among 60 set out in an action plan produced by industry body Oil and Gas UK (OGUK).
Entitled Roadmap 2035, the publication details how the industry can achieve Scottish and UK climate targets.
It outlines five key areas where efforts should be concentrated – meeting net-zero; driving technology and innovation; developing people and skills; growing the economy and exports; and meeting the UK’S need for energy and industrial products.
The North Sea sector is responsible for 3 per cent of the country’s total annual greenhouse gas emissions – 14 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
The plan aims for this to be slashed to 0.5 million tonnes – or net-zero – by 2050.
This is in line with the UK government’s decarbonisation target, but five years later than Scotland has pledged to achieve the same goal.
The body has also set up a group of industry leaders and professionals to help drive decarbonisation.
OGUK chief executive Deirdre Michie said the sector was no longer debating global warming and “is not shying away from the climate conversation, but embracing it”.
She said: “The facts are that the climate is changing, and we must all change if we are to protect our planet for future generations.”
Ms Michie warned decarbonising a society that relies so substantially on fossil fuels would be challenging and require “constructive, collective and co-ordinated action”.
She said the mission would be particularly tough given that worldwide demand for energy is set to grow by a third in the next 30 years, but North Sea operators were “capable of doing big things in remarkable ways”.
Ms Michie said carbon capture and storage would be necessary “in all decarbonisation scenarios” and the technique – which involves removing carbon dioxide produced in industrial processes before it can be released into the atmosphere and injecting it deep underground into disused oil and gas fields to be stored – offered a major opportunity for Scotland.
But despite the urgent need to cut the industry’s environmental impacts, she said oil and gas would continue to form a significant part – around a third – of the “diverse energy mix” of the future, after 2050.
This is mainly due to continued reliance on petroleum products from heavy industry, aviation and manufacturing.
Projections suggest the number of North Sea jobs will fall from around 150,000 to 130,000 by 2035, though the plan aims to double exports from a “diversifying energy sector” to £20 billion a year.