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New Energy World
New Energy World embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low carbon technologies.
Offshore Europe 2023 – looking back or looking forward?
13/9/2023
9 min read
The opening speeches at the 2023 SPE Offshore Europe Conference extolled the virtues of the continued use of fossil fuels and of carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS). But other voices, emphasising the trajectory of existing and nascent low-carbon technologies, provided a powerful counterweight throughout the event. Charlie Bush, Senior Editor of New Energy World, reports, adding a few views of his own.
Last week in Aberdeen, the 50th iteration of the Offshore Europe conference began with Kamel Ben Naceur, Chief Economist at ADNOC, warning against large increases in taxation for the oil and gas sector, arguing that it would be unwise to reduce oil and gas exploration, and praising the UK government’s recent decision to grant hundreds of new North Sea oil and gas licences.
Meanwhile, Graham Stuart, UK Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero in the UK government’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), confirmed that his government ‘firmly believes that UK oil and gas is part of the solution not the problem’ as domestically produced gas is around ‘four times cleaner than imported LNG’ – overlooking the fact that the rather larger Scope 3 emissions are the same, regardless of where gas is produced.
Both men emphasised the importance of CCUS for the energy transition. The ADNOC economist said that there is ‘the prospect for 100mn tonnes of CO2 to be stored globally by 2030’. He called for greater collaboration to increase that figure by the three orders of magnitude needed for net zero emissions, according to many scenarios. Similarly, Stuart stated that: ‘Without CCUS, there will be no net zero. And its traditional oil and gas companies who will deliver this.’