The energy sector is awash with the benefits of hydrogen for domestic heating. It’s the most common element in Universe, it burns to water, it can be swapped out for natural gas – it is a wonder fuel.
Crown Estate Scotland is tendering a £40,000 contract for a study into whether oil platforms can be reused to produce hydrogen.
Recent press coverage of BP’s partnership with Aberdeen, where BP will become the planning and technical adviser on the “net zero vision” for Aberdeen 2045, together with the AREG chairwomen’s EV article on 'A hydrogen future on the horizon’, raised concerns in my mind relating to over-selling hydrogen.
Here is a quote from The Global CCS Institute “CCS is a proven and well understood technology”.
My recent Energy Voice article comparing Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) with Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEV) generated some interest. To my mind the BEV has clear benefits from an energy efficiency standpoint, as an FCEV requires twice the energy of a BEV.
A consultant has quit an influential chemical engineering committee after just four months due to a disagreement about messaging around the climate emergency.
Throughout my time in the upstream oil and gas industry I have always considered Norway to be best in class when it comes to environmental management.
I recently presented at a UK Oil and Gas Law Seminar where the keynote speaker was Mike Tholen (Upstream Policy Director Oil & Gas UK).
As someone with a keen interest in decommissioning decision making, I have followed the Brent decommissioning saga with that same keen interest.
An academic has asked whether removing concrete structures within Shell’s Brent platform legs is the right thing to do as such an operation would include risk to life.
The reported upturn in oil and gas activity together with articles on the need for continued vigilance on supply chain costs, reminded me of Oscar Wilde’s quote ‘the man who knows the cost of everything but the value of nothing’.
I was interested to read your recent article “CCUS is a stopgap to a big hydrogen world” which called CCUS a “blunt, end of pipe, short term solution” to tackling climate change. Instead, Tom Baxter argues, we should bypass CCUS and focus our ambition and investment on delivering green hydrogen.
The recent government call for evidence provides an opportunity to restate my case for a review of the current legislative framework associated with decommissioning.
The recent Energy Voice article covering the chief executive of the OGA, Andy Samuel’s evidence to the inquiry into the public cost of decommissioning oil and gas infrastructure at Westminster, prompted me to review the minutes of the session.
Tom Baxter is senior lecturer in chemical engineering at Aberdeen University.
An Aberdeen oil expert has argued for North Sea rigs to be left at sea in a report on decommissioning which will be launched in the Scottish Parliament today.
Whilst many industry commentators have quite rightly welcomed the recent budget decision on tax credit transfer, the fact remains that even with the new arrangement, decommissioning remains a very poor deal for the UK taxpayer.
The Oil and Gas Technology Centre (OGTC) is calling for technologies to transform how we develop the remaining UKCS hydrocarbons. That prompted me to think about transformational technologies I’ve seen in my 40-plus years as a chemical engineer. Could we learn from past innovations?
If the ill-informed hysteria surrounding the safety of fracking is anything to go by, I can imagine the headline above being used to describe a highly promising microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) technique.