Regulator set to reject oil and gas plans that are not green enough

The regulator of the UK’s oil and gas companies has warned it could block developments if they do not take reasonable steps to reduce emissions.

The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) today publishes a plan that highlights “the need for action across the board on production decarbonisation”.

It said it would work with oil and gas developers, but if they did not take steps it thought necessary it might not approve their schemes.

Despite falls in recent years, the production of oil and gas in the UK contributes around 3% of the UK’s total greenhouse gas emissions – not including the emissions produced when that oil and gas is burnt.

This comes partly from the energy that oil rigs and other operations use to transport staff and equipment, pump up oil and much else besides.

But it also comes from practices such as venting or flaring – the process of either releasing unwanted gas into the atmosphere, or burning it on site without using the energy it could produce.

Part of the mission would be to reduce venting and flaring. But another approach is to start running oil rigs on green electricity.

This could save up to two million tonnes of carbon in 2030 alone. By 2050, electrification could save a total of 22 million tonnes.

The authority warned companies it might withhold approval from projects if they are not electrified where it thinks they should be.

“The plan places electrification and low-carbon power at the heart of emissions reduction and makes it clear that where the NSTA considers electrification reasonable, but it has not been done, there should be no expectation that the NSTA will approve field development plans and similar decisions that give access to future hydrocarbon resources on that asset,” it said.

NSTA chief executive Stuart Payne said: “The plan strikes the right balance in supporting industry in its work producing the oil and gas we need and will continue to need in the coming decades, while at the same time playing its role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”