OGA Updates on $1MM+ Decarbonization Competition

The UK Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) has announced that a total of 29 bids have been submitted for its $1.3 million (GBP 1 million) competition for ideas that could advance the electrification of platforms on the UK Continental Shelf.

High-quality studies touching on technical, engineering and/or commercial ideas have come in from operators, supply chain and academia, according to the OGA, which noted that these will now be assessed. Winners to be awarded a share of the fund are scheduled to be announced in early December, with work to be completed by March 31, 2022, and project reports to be published in the second quarter of next year, the OGA outlined.

The OGA launched the competition to help decarbonize offshore oil and gas production last month. In an organization statement at the time, the OGA’s chief executive, Andy Samuel, said the electrification of oil and gas installations was a vital part of the industry’s license to operate and meet its North Sea Transition Deal emissions reduction targets.

It is anticipated that powering installations using electricity, either from a cable to the shore or from a nearby windfarm, could lead to two to three million tons per annum of CO2 emissions reductions, the OGA highlighted in a statement posted on its website this week. This is equivalent to the annual carbon emissions from households in a city the size of Liverpool, the OGA noted.

The OGA outlined that it has been actively progressing electrification opportunities in areas including the Central North Sea and West of Shetland by bringing operators together, hosting workshops with the power sector and pressing operators for more pace on project delivery. Platform electrification is a key component of the OGA’s vision for an integrated energy basin, according to the organization, whose Energy Integration Report found that the UKCS could absorb up to 60 percent of the UK’s entire CO2 abatement needed to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

Earlier this month, the OGA published its inaugural Emissions Monitoring Report, which showed that the UK upstream oil and gas industry must go much further and faster in its drive to cut emissions, the OGA noted. This new annual report is part of the OGA’s efforts to monitor, benchmark and hold the industry to account on emissions, in support of the UK’s target of reaching net zero by 2050.

Last week, the UK government unveiled its Net Zero Strategy, which sets out how the UK will deliver on its commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050.

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