Oil and gas sector makes ambitious green pledge to slash emissions

The UK’s offshore oil and gas sector has made an ambitious pledge to slash half of its emissions over the next decade.

Representative body Oil and Gas UK (OGUK) said the emissions reductions would have the same effect as taking nearly “two million cars off the road”.

But it also warned of a “gap” between “what is currently technically feasible and what is commercially feasible” to deliver its green goals.

OGUK acknowledges that between half and twothirds of emissions cuts in the next 10 years would come from older fields stopping production.

The new target builds on the September 2019 publication of the North Sea industry’s “road map” to becoming a net-zero basin by 2050.

It comes amid increasingly loud calls from green groups and investors for the oil sector to clean up its act.

The industry has been blindsided by a slump in crude prices, partly caused by the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact on demand, leading to a wave of job losses and project cancellations.

But the sector appears determined to bolster the UK’s “green economic recovery”.

Targets will be met partly through flaring reductions and equipment upgrades. More capital-intensive initiatives like carbon capture and storage will take longer to achieve scale, but should help the sector lower or offset its emissions by 90% by 2040.

Perhaps the most ambitious idea involves powering offshore platforms with low-carbon electricity from onshore grids or offshore wind farms.

Well over half of the industry’s carbon dioxide emissions comes from offshore electricity generation supplied by gas turbines.

OGUK chief executive Deirdre Michie has said a “transformational” sector deal could “unlock” the full potential of the industry.