The UK has the potential to be a global leader in carbon capture and direct air capture technologies – but large-scale projects must be developed rapidly if our net zero goal is to be achieved.
Ollie Folayan, chair of AFBE-UK Scotland, looks at the key talking points for the year ahead from his hopes for diversity and inclusion to transition and the future for energy workers.
At this time of year you reflect on the past 12 months, and look to what the future holds. We started 2021 on a peak in Covid cases, and it looks like we will end the year in the same way. But even in another year dominated by the pandemic, there have been positive points to remember.
In a year where energy prices have been volatile, the market for technology and services across both oil and gas and renewables sectors has remained strong.
Lots has been accomplished on the D&I front this year – and 2022 provides more opportunity to build positive momentum in the industry’s journey.
At the opening of COP26 last month, Prince Charles told an audience of global leaders that a vast, military style campaign by the private sector would be the only real prospect we have of beating the clock on climate change.
The offshore oil and gas sector is a major UK industrial success story. The United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS) oil and gas supply has been at the heart of the UK's energy and industrial strategy for more than fifty years, maintaining the country’s energy security, while keeping our homes warm, our country moving and creating hundreds of thousands of quality jobs.
I read with wry amusement that some 58 of Aberdeen’s great and good have written to the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and other political leaders asking for a “more reasoned debate” on the future of oil and gas.
All of us who live in north-east of Scotland are acutely aware how reliant our economy has been on a world-class oil and gas sector.
The UK Government is calling upon a ‘spirit of innovation’ to develop technology and solutions for the growing UK carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) market at a pace never seen before.
A couple of weeks ago, a Scottish green party MSP claimed that it is only the “hard right” who continue to support development of the Cambo oilfield on the UK Atlantic Frontier.
A unique aspect of how the oil and gas industry operates is the concept of the mutual hold harmless indemnity – this is a legal tool for risk allocation by which each party to a contract agrees to take the risk of injury to its own personnel or damage to its property even if caused by the other party.
It’s hard to believe it’s December already. As another year closes, I ask you to consider, what has 2021 shown about your general wellbeing, particularly your mental health?
Perspective is everything. For climate activists, the recent pledge that more than 20 countries and financial institutions made to stop public financing for overseas fossil fuel projects was seen as a promising first step toward achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, one of the goals of the Paris Agreement.
Believe it or not the UK’s oil and gas industry is the nation’s best bet for building a green and low-carbon future – and that includes opening new oil fields like Cambo, says Katy Heidenreich, operations director at Oil & Gas UK (OGUK) which represents the UK offshore industry.
Let’s face it, 2021 was a terrible year.
Across mature, capital-intensive industries such as oil and gas, operators typically want to sweat their assets. Asset performance and lifecycle costing are both critically important, as is minimising downtime and maximising the time that assets are fully operational.
Cut it whichever way you like, little genuine forward progress was made at COP26, in my opinion. At best the outcomes are fragile.
As the day draws nigh when the winners are announced in the great ScotWind lottery, the lists of promises from prospective developers grow longer and more sophisticated. There is nothing they will not do for communities and supply chains. I hope somebody is keeping note.
How best to describe Scotland’s current energy predicament? Well, no-one can resist a football analogy - and inspiration duly came as I tuned in to the recent World Cup play-off draw.
The “electrify everything” lobbying brigade has just been deal a damaging blow.
A short time ago, I was at an event in Brussels, talking about the role of natural gas. And there was a gentleman there who didn’t want to engage with our industry at all. At one point he asked me if I was ashamed of my work and said that talking about the future of gas was just our industry looking for a lifeline. He is just one person who sees gas as a problematic energy source. Sadly, he is one of many.
Just five weeks ago, the UK Government left an almighty open goal for the SNP.
“If we are to successfully transition to the energy system of tomorrow, we cannot simply unplug from the energy system of today,” Adnoc CEO Dr Sultan Al Jaber warned the ADIPEC conference in Abu Dhabi this month.
There were some welcome developments during COP26, not least the deal announced between the US and China to work together to limit global temperature rises to 1.5C, in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement.