UK Steps Up Efforts to Promote Offshore Gas Production

The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) approved the Field Development Plan of the Catcher area put forward by Premier Oil (50%, operator), Cairn Energy (30%) and MOL Group (20%). 

“The Catcher area development shows that there continues to be an extraordinary level of interest in North Sea oil and gas, which is excellent news for industry and for the whole of the UK. The project represents over £1bn of investment and almost all of the subsea expertise and equipment needed for this development is being supplied by British companies right across the country,” Michael Fallon, Minister of State for Energy, commented in a note released on Thursday.

According to the Hungary-based MOL Group, the area is expected to produce 96 million barrels of oil equivalent with a peak production rate of around 50,000 barrels of oil per day. The Catcher Area project is located on Blocks 28/9a and 28/10c in the Central North Sea. 

“This region is of growing importance for MOL; we have also submitted a bid for licences in the UK Government’s 28th offshore round of oil and gas licensing, and we look forward to a successful outcome of our submission," said Alexander Dodds, Executive Vice-President, Exploration and Production, MOL Group. 

Apart from financial considerations, the move suggests that the British government intends to step up efforts to promote production in the North Sea. 

Analysts expect the UK government to introduce a new regulator for offshore oil and gas. The government-funded report carried out by Sir Ian Wood did indeed suggest that a new body would allow collaboration between small companies.