OGUK calls for urgent action to progress UK CCUS

Oil and Gas UK (OGUK) has published its second Energy Transition Outlook Report, which calls for urgent action to progress low carbon technologies critical to the UK and Scottish government’s net zero ambitions. It says government and industry must work together to progress to the next stage five key projects* across the UK which look to capture, transport and store carbon dioxide (CO₂) from heavy emitting industrial processes, including power plants. The report also calls for joint action to increase the potential for low carbon hydrogen to be used as a fuel to heat homes and power cars.

Published on 3 December 2019, the report considers the changing energy landscape in the UK and outlines progress achieved by the UK’s oil and gas sector over the past year to provide industry and economy-wide solutions towards reducing emissions.

However, the report authors warn that the sector will need to ‘earn its position in the changing energy world’, with ‘rapid action required to ensure the sector transforms over the next 30 years while continuing to meet as much of the UK’s oil and gas needs from domestic resources’.

The report findings suggest that while the UK’s oil and gas industry is in a ‘unique position’ to lead in the development of carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS), with five projects situated across the country currently being explored, UK energy sector investment will need to double in order to achieve a decarbonised economy.

Commenting on the report, OGUK Chief Executive Deirdre Michie, said: ‘With the launch of Roadmap 2035: a blueprint for net zero, we were one of the first industrial sectors to set out credible plans to support the UK and Scottish government net zero emissions. Yet the oil and gas sector will have to earn its position in this new energy world, cutting its own emissions and working with governments and regulators to progress the five CCUS projects which now need to move forward into the next phase and developing hydrogen. As our report shows, there is lots of work to be done in a huge market which is only getting bigger as global demand for energy continues to grow. The Climate Change Committee report published at the beginning of this year noted CCUS was critical to our net zero ambitions. Our challenge, working with others including the OGTC’s Net Zero Solutions Centre, is to realise CCUS and other low carbon technologies as an opportunity for UK businesses.’

*The five CCUS cluster projects are the Humberside cluster, North East Scotland’s Acorn project, the Teesside collective, HyNet, and the South Wales cluster.