The UK Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) has launched its Energy Integration Project which sets out how energy industry can contribute to the UK’s carbon reduction targets.
The UK Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) has launched its Energy Integration Project which sets out how energy industry can contribute to the UK’s carbon reduction targets.
The report found that the integration of offshore energy systems, including oil and gas, renewables, hydrogen and carbon capture and storage, could contribute 30% of the UK’s total carbon reduction requirements towards meet the 2050 net zero target.
There are more than 30 energy integration projects already underway across the UKCS, with more than ten actively being engaged by the OGA alongside this study.
Oil and gas platform electrification is essential to cutting sector production emissions in the near term, and critical to the industry’s social licence to operate, says the report. Electrification could abate operational emissions by 2-3MtCO2 p.a. by 2030. This is the equivalent of reducing 20% of today’s production emissions, rising to 40% by 2030.
Oil and gas capabilities, infrastructure and supply chain are crucial to energy integration, and can potentially support further offshore renewables expansion, including floating wind power, said the OGA. Reusing oil and gas reservoirs and infrastructure could accelerate carbon capture and storage (CCS), connecting to onshore net zero hubs and saving 20-30% Capex on specific projects.
The UK needs to develop around 20 C02 stores for a total capacity of more than 3GtCO2 by 2050 (with large CCS projects featuring multiple stores). Blue hydrogen (produced from natural gas) has the potential to decarbonise around 30% of the UK natural gas supply by 2050, potentially supporting circa half of CCS expansions in the same timeframe.
Green hydrogen (from renewables) could support significant expansion of offshore renewables in the 2030s and beyond, providing an efficient storage and energy transportation solution. Reducing the costs of the technology involved (electrolysis) would be needed to support the faster uptake of this technology.
OGA chief executive Dr Andy Samuel said: ‘The UK Continental Shelf has the potential to make a meaningful impact on the UK’s overall net zero target and offshore energy integration can be the game changer. By closely co-ordinating our energy systems a secure energy supply can continue to be delivered from a diverse mix of production, while unlocking more and more of the green energy and carbon capture needed to help take the UK to net zero.’
