OEUK news

Companies to shine spotlight on efforts to electrify North Sea at major industry event

20 April 2022

Key companies involved in reducing emissions from North Sea oil and gas production will gather at Offshore Energies UK’s (OEUK) final instalment of the electrification event series on Wednesday 27 April in Aberdeen – ‘Electrification in the Making.’

Attendees will share their ideas a to help progress the industry’s efforts to substantially cut emissions by electrifying the North Sea. If the sector is to meet its targets of halving production emissions by 2030 before reaching net zero 2050, then hundreds of installations which produce oil and gas will need to be powered by cleaner energies including wind.

The UK’s Government’s recent Energy Security Strategy said large scale electrification is key to “ensuring domestic gas remains the low carbon choice.”

The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) will also be present the results of their £1m electrification competition, designed to help accelerate progress.

OEUK Emissions Improvement Manager Thibaut Cheret said:

“Achieving net zero in the UK will rely, in part, on the oil and gas industry’s ability to cut down it’s emissions and produce the energy we need more responsibly.

“Electrification will mean that UK oil and gas remains the low carbon choice, improving our operations offshore.

“The steps we take in the next five years will determine our success on electrification, not only for our own decarbonisation, but to support the growth of offshore wind and hydrogen – energies which will be pivotal in helping the UK reach its climate goals.

“This conference is a great opportunity to understand how we can take the next big step in the energy transition – allowing companies to showcase the latest technologies related to electrification and share their lessons learned from existing projects.”

Alana Finlayson, Energy Integration Co-ordinator at the NSTA, said:

“I look forward to taking part in this event, which is an exciting opportunity to discover some of the key outcomes of the studies supported by our £1m offshore electrification competition.

“Electrification is key to reducing emissions from offshore power generation and delivering North Sea Transition Deal commitments – and is a key focus for the NSTA, which is working actively with industry to bring projects closer to fruition.”

Significant industry investment will be required in technology, offshore renewable resources and infrastructure to facilitate offshore electrification of either existing or new assets. This is a major undertaking and is likely to take a decade to deploy at scale.

Electrification of existing offshore assets remains commercially challenging, and to deliver the industry’s 50% emission reduction target by 2030, it is estimated that between £2-3 billion of investment will be required to allow the completion of at least one or two current projects.

The day will comprise of a mix of plenary sessions and parallel sessions, bringing investors, wind providers and operators together to address the challenges and opportunities of electrification.

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