Former BP chief executive Lord Browne has rejected any responsibility for the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
He was in Aberdeen to address the Unconventional Gas 2011 conference at which 300 delegates examined the potential for what is anticipated could be a sector of major significance to the north-east, Scottish and UK economies.
Recovering shale gas, coalbed methane gas and tight gas using “unconventional” solutions is in its infancy in Europe and Lord Browne said among the many challenges was winning public support.
After leaving the stage, he told the Press and Journal that winning public confidence required careful engagement and explanation from the beginning.
He said: “People get very concerned if they don’t know what is going on. If they do know what is going on, they can see the benefits.”
He said he did not think the public concern over Deepwater Horizon would transfer to unconventional gas.
“It is a very, very, different activity and very different considerations and different players. There are plenty of players in unconventional gas that aren’t involved in conventional oil.”
Asked about the impact of Deepwater Horizon on the conventional industry, he said: “I can’t really add to the sum total of what has been written, which is it has caused a significant questioning of what oil and gas companies do and obviously a revision in regulation, a lot of consideration in the United States, a lot of reports and I think we will have to wait and see how that all develops.”
Lord Browne said he was not in a position to comment on whether changes in regulation were needed but that the Presidential Commission had already said that, in effect, but it had praised the UK approach to safety.
Previously , Lord Browne has been accused of having to bear some responsibility for last year’s US gulf disaster because of a “ruthless” programme of cost-cutting at BP during his years in office which allegedly compromised safety. He rejected that, saying: “I left BP a long time ago, four years.”
Lord Browne spent 12 years leading BP before quitting in May 2007 after he admitted lying to a court during a battle to block stories about his private life. He is now managing director of Europe for Riverstone Holdings.
Lord Browne said in his speech that unconventional gas would take decades rather than years to develop as a new energy source. Vital to success was transparency to build trust with regulators and society.
He told the audience at Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre: “Winning broad acceptance from society is essential to the survival of any new industry.
“Whether it is GM crops, nuclear power or biofuels Europe has painful experience of how promising innovations can be held back or killed by public opposition.
“Sometimes that opposition reflects genuine concerns about safety or environmental harm. Applying technologies in novel ways often represents challenging trade-offs which it is the job of politicians to decide on.
” In these cases businesses must be proactive in their engagement with the public and robust in putting forward their arguments, particularly at the local level. In other cases, public concern results from a lack of understanding about how the technology is being applied in a new setting.
“For example some groups have raised concerns that the fraccing process used in shale gas production can lead to hydrocarbons or additives finding their way into shallow-water aquifers.
“The fact is that there are thousands of feet of impenetrable rock between these aquifers at the depth at which fraccing takes place and in the history of US shale and gas extraction there is little, if any evidence, of fraccing causing the contamination of ground water.”
Conference chairman Simon Seaton, Halliburton’s UK vice-president, said it had been a significant success and he hoped it would be repeated, adding: “There were some very consistent themes and if we can address these we can be successful.”
Energy consultant Wood Mackenzie said yesterday that unlocking the estimated 280trillion cubic feet of unconventional gas in Europe, India and China posed a huge infrastructure and logistical challenge. But it added that, in contrast to the impact of unconventional gas in North America markets, this significant gas resource would have an incremental affect on global markets rather than a disruptive one.
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