UK Upstream Majors Lead on Post-Covid Recovery

Some of the biggest UK oil and gas producers have joined forces to help shape the sector’s recovery as it looks beyond the immediate health and safety issues posed by Covid-19, industry group Oil & Gas UK (OGUK) said May 14.

They will also work on longer-term solutions to the decarbonisation challenge. The upstream regulator Oil & Gas Authority has said their social licence to operate would be at risk if they did not cut flaring, use more renewable energy to generate electricity and so on.

The group comprises BP regional president Ariel Flores, Aker Solutions head of UK Sian Lloyd-Rees, Wood's Asset Solutions CEO Dave Stewart, Shell's deputy upstream head Steve Phimister and Chrysaor CEO Phil Kirk. 

The group will explore opportunities from exploration to decommissioning, from maintenance programmes and desktop engineering design work, to offshore work programmes, to identify where projects could be brought forward or more widely promoted to stimulate activity levels for companies servicing the sector.

OGUK director of operations Katy Heidenreich said the recovery plan will not only look at how to support the oil and gas industry through improving its competitiveness as a basin; it will also look at how the offshore might become an incubator for net zero projects.

She said  the sector will continue to play an important role in meeting as much of the UK’s oil and gas needs from domestic resources, while also shaping up to play an even bigger role in delivering the UK’s net zero ambitions.