As the UK gets ever closer to its net zero deadline, discussion around the country’s energy mix become more prominent and energy bosses say gas is here to stay.
Recently, Baker Hughes CEO Lorenzo Simonelli said that natural gas “is not a transition fuel, it is a destination fuel to ensure we have energy abundance” at an event in Italy.
Chief executive of Irish Sea operator EnergyPathways Ben Clube agrees that natural gas is essential for the UK’s energy future.
Speaking to Energy Voice, Clube said: “Gas is not a bridging or a transition fuel, it is the destination and in the future of the UK, gas will continue to be – in our opinion – a major energy source.”
© Supplied by EnergyPathways
EnergyPathways (LON: EPP) is making significant investment into gas production. The firm has been granted the licence for the Marram gas field, which will play an integral role in its low carbon energy plans.
The asset will form part of the Marram Energy Storage Hub (MESH) project which is set to be powered by offshore wind turbines and store both natural gas and hydrogen.
Gas production at Marram will fill the gap while the operator awaits news on whether it will get a licence to store gas or hydrogen at the site.
Clube explained: “From a gas project point of view, we already have the production licence. It’s complementary to what we’re trying to do with MESH for the gas storage licence.”
The firm is aiming to secure support for MESH through the UK’s next hydrogen storage allocation round, which is due to take place this year.
© Supplied by EnergyPathwaysHe added that the hydrogen storage round is “about presenting projects, not concepts” and because of that, his firm wants to be “ready to participate”.
“It’s about building a total energy system solution,” Clube said.
“So, we don’t think compartmentalising gas production from hydrogen from gas storage is the way to look at the world.”
Gas and green energy
Clube added that storing natural gas to strengthen the UK’s energy security by “ensuring a reliable and dependable supply” forms “key building blocks of the UK’s transition to net zero”.
Intermittency is an issue that green energy projects face, with batteries set to play a big role in ensuring that power can be delivered when the wind doesn’t blow, and the sun doesn’t shine.
Clube said: “It does appear to me that that journey in the UK is the demand for natural gas will remain resilient into the future so it’s about how you go about decarbonising that.
“The backup of renewable wind generating capacity and the significant increase in that, natural gas has a part to play as the backup, or dispatchable, supply source to address the intermittency of wind.”
Using gas in a ‘decarbonised way’
However, how gas plays a role in the energy “mix” is by delivering the fuel in “a decarbonised way,” Clube argued.
In addition to reducing the carbon output of its unmanned Marram A platform through electrification, Clube sees potential in blending natural gas and hydrogen which is an “exciting opportunity” for the Marram project in particular.
“In the longer term, hydrogen is perceived as being able to displace natural gas use,” the EnergyPathway’s boss said.
“Whether that is ever going to be comprehensive, I think that’s very, very unlikely. But there is a role for the integration of hydrogen and natural gas in its use in the UK, given that hydrogen is being given that role, from a government policy point of view.
“That is where I think MESH has significant value for the UK economy because it’s one of the locations where natural gas use can be integrated with hydrogen use readily, given the geographic proximity of the gas storage and production and the hydrogen storage and production and that’s what we think is an exciting opportunity.”
He added that the UK’s gas production infrastructure offers a “critical opportunity” for the country in its net zero journey.
However, he is concerned that if this infrastructure is decommissioned “it’s never recoverable again”.
“As the gas fields of the UK head towards decommissioning-type decisions and milestones, repurposing of that and the most effective way is what I think is an immediate challenge that needs consideration by the industry and regulators.
CCS is backed by ‘both colours of government’
In addition to this, capturing emissions from gas for storage is something that “both colours of government in the UK” see potential in, he added.
This week, Perenco performed the country’s first-ever test injection of CO2 at its Poseidon carbon capture storage (CCS) site in the southern North Sea.
In addition to this, the UK government has invested heavily in CCS projects across the UK in its flagship track 1 and track 2 processes which unlocked funding for four clusters. This included a significant commitment to invest £22 billion in the track 1 projects on the north-east and north-west of England.
Following this, track 1 winner the Northern Endurance Partnership (NEP) secured the UK’s first-ever carbon storage permit in December.
The permit enables the project developers to store up to “hundreds of millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide” off the north-east coast of England.
‘The demand versus the supply’
CCS is still a controversial technology with some arguing that it is being used to allow oil and gas operators to continue production without adapting to lower carbon alternatives.
Late last year Stuart Payne, CEO of UK regulator the North Sea Transition Authority, argued: “Let’s be clear CCS is absolutely essential to the UK meeting its net zero targets. There is currently no credible pathway to reaching net zero without it.”
For Clube, the importance of CCS and the continued production of gas in the UK comes down to “the demand versus the supply”.
He said: “The demands for gas within the UK remain resilient, despite multi-billions of investments going into delivering alternative energy supply sources.
“While that demand for using gas remains there, the question becomes, how does one reduce the emissions impacts of that of that demand use and that’s where CCS has a part to play.”
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