Thank you for taking the time to contact me about the North Sea Transition Deal and Rosebank.
While the offshore oil and gas sector is a major UK industrial success story, climate change represents an existential threat to the planet. Recognising this, the UK’s offshore oil and gas sector was amongst the first major industries to publicly back the Government’s net zero objectives. In 2019, the Oil and Gas Industry Association published its ‘Roadmap 2035: A Blueprint for Net Zero’, which highlighted the role the sector can play to help the UK achieve the energy transition that is vital to a fully decarbonised economy.
In recognition of the important role that oil and gas will play into our energy security and energy transition, an imminent licensing round for new North Sea oil and gas projects is expected to lead to over 100 new licences being awarded.
It is important to note that producing gas in the UK has a lower carbon footprint than importing it from abroad and am reassured that supporting the production of domestic oil and gas in the nearer term will be coupled with the accelerated deployment of wind, new nuclear, solar and hydrogen energy.
The North Sea Transition Deal builds on the UK’s global strength in offshore oil and gas production and seeks to maximise the advantages for the UK’s oil and gas sector from the global shift to clean growth. Through the Deal, the UK’s oil and gas sector and the Government will work together to deliver the skills, innovation and new infrastructure required to decarbonise North Sea oil and gas production as well as other carbon intensive industries.
This will support up to 40,000 direct and indirect supply chain jobs in decarbonising the UK’s Continental Shelf (UKCS) production and the CCUS and hydrogen sectors. The deal is expected to cut pollution by up to 60 million tonnes by 2030, including 15 million tonnes from oil and gas production on the UKCS, the equivalent of annual emissions from 90 per cent of the UK’s homes. In the year since the deal was agreed, there has been a reduction in carbon emissions from offshore oil and gas production, which have fallen by 11 per cent since 2018 - equivalent to taking around a million cars off the road for the year.
BP is already developing plans for the UK’s largest ‘blue’ hydrogen production facility on Teesside, which could produce up to 1GW of hydrogen, or 20 per cent of the UK’s hydrogen target, by 2030 and would capture and send for storage up to two million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.
The Government launched a consultation on a new climate compatibility checkpoint for the oil and gas industry, specifically on its design. This comes after a commitment to introduce the checkpoint as part of the Deal. The checkpoint will be a new measure carried out before each future oil and gas licensing process to ensure any new licences are only awarded on the basis that they are aligned with the UK’s climate change commitments, including the UK’s target of reaching net zero by 2050. The consultation has now closed and the Government is reviewing the responses and will respond in due course.
High-skilled oil and gas workers will not be left behind in transition to a low carbon future. The Deal, which has been agreed with industry, aims to support and anchor the expert supply chain that has built up around oil and gas in the UK, to both safeguard and create new high-quality jobs. The Deal will transform the sector in preparation for a net zero future and catalyse growth throughout the UK economy.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.
Craig Whittaker MP
October 2022