UK Upstream 'Key To Low Carbon Economy': Report

UK upstream companies should be key partners in efforts to build a lower carbon economy, a report from industry association Oil & Gas UK said December 4.

"A lower carbon future will still require large scale energy distribution networks, undersea engineering and the mass movement and storage of gases and liquids. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCUS) and the development of hydrogen on an industrial scale will also feature," said OGUK energy policy manager Will Webster, citing recent action plans by government and industry to deliver the UK’s first CCUS projects by the mid-2020s.

Worldwide there are 21 active large-scale CCUS facilities with a capacity to store 37mn metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂) per year, the report says, citing the International Energy Agency.

The 20-page Energy Transition Outlook report, published December 4, concludes with a proposed policy roadmap to use the UK’s expertise in offshore technology to deliver the next phase of the energy transition. It calls on government to focus on "key high-level objectives," and says that CCUS will be "key in delivering a low carbon future," that a broad-based hydrogen economy is essential, and that the role of carbon pricing should be revived.

The report also notes that 80% of the UK’s 27mn homes today are heated by gas, demonstrating the long-term importance of our industry in ensuring security of energy supply, but also discusses the recently published H21 feasibility study that looks at switching a lot of that market over to hydrogen.