UK Oil & Gas Industry Embraces Net Zero Emissions Plan By 2050

The UK’s oil and gas industry plans to become a net zero oil and gas basin in terms of own production emissions by 2050, as the UK North Sea operators support the government’s commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050, Deirdre Michie, the chief executive of the OGUK industry association, said on Thursday.

In June last year, the UK became the first major economy in the world to enshrine in a law its target to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

Since then, the UK oil and gas industry, via its industry body OGUK, has pledged that it would work toward the UK and Scottish government goals to cut emissions and seize opportunities presented by the hydrogen economy and Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS).

Today, OGUK’s chief executive Michie said in a speech in Edinburgh, Scotland, that the UK offshore oil and gas industry would aim to reduce its own emissions from 14 million tons today – currently 3 percent of the UK’s total greenhouse gas emissions – to 0.5 mt by 2050, in line with the Climate Change Committee outlook.

“It will require significant investment, new technology and close working with the renewables sector in Scotland and across the UK,” the CEO of the oil and gas industry association noted.  

The second ‘net zero commitment’ of the industry body is to support the development of CCUS and other low carbon tech at scale, because CCUS would be required in all decarbonization scenarios.

“We are looking to work with governments and regulators to progress the five CCUS projects across the UK which now need to move at pace into the next phase,” Michie said.

Hydrogen is also an opportunity in the path toward net zero emissions, because it could become a “potentially disruptive player in the clean energy mix,” the oil and gas industry’s association chief said.

“We are here and we want to help. And we want to be a positive force in this transition,” said Michie.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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