Page 4 - EurOil Week 15 2022

EurOil COMMENTARY EurOil

UK unveils plan to bolster

energy security

The UK strategy offers something for most areas of the energy industry, but

this might also signal a lack of focus.

UK THE UK government has unveiled a new energy it commissioned a technical review from the
policy paper aimed at bolstering the country’s British Geological Society (BGS) to assess “any
WHAT: energy security in the face of soaring gas and further scientific updates on seismicity that the
The UK government has power prices and Europe’s push to phase out government ought to consider.”
published a policy paper Russian energy. “The pause continues to remain in place
aimed at shoring up the In the run-up to the COP26 climate sum- unless new evidence emerges,” the government
country’s energy security. mit in Glasgow last autumn, the government said. “Any exploration or development of shale
announced a number of ambitious targets to gas would need to meet rigorous safety and envi-
WHY: decarbonise industries and scale up renewables ronmental protection both above ground and
The country wants to and other low-carbon technologies. Less atten- sub-surface.”
boost its security in the tion was paid to energy affordability and security, The BGS’ review should be completed by
face of soaring prices and even as energy prices began climbing during the the end of June, potentially paving the way for
Europe’s push to phase latter half of last year, following a sharp rebound a resumption of hydraulic fracturing in the late
out Russian energy. in energy demand post-pandemic, and con- summer. Shale developers have welcomed the
straints with global supply. move, with Cuadrilla Resources praising the gov-
WHAT NEXT: With UK households bracing themselves to ernment for recognising “the huge potential that
The plan expands targets pay much larger energy bills, however, the gov- shale gas offers this country.” Egdon Resources
for most sectors of the ernment is shifting gears, prioritising an expan- said the move was “logical and welcome”, noting
energy industry, but does sion in domestic energy supply, including oil and that shale gas “could be a strategically important
not discuss natural gas gas. resource with the potential to reduce the UK’s
storage at all. In its policy paper, the government said it growing reliance on gas imports, whilst reducing
would resume offshore oil and gas licensing, gas prices, improving our balance of payments,
which had been put on hold in 2019 pending a increasing tax revenues and creating skilled jobs
review of whether policies were in line with the whilst importantly also reducing the carbon
UK’s climate goals. The country still has 7.9bn footprint of the gas we all use.”
barrels of oil and 560bn cubic metres of natural Ineos, meanwhile, has written to the gov-
gas in its remaining reserves, Whitehall said, and ernment offering to develop a fully functioning
these resources can be used to replace imports, shale test site that demonstrates that hydraulic
which are potentially more expensive and have fracturing can be both safe and secure.
a higher carbon footprint. The government also “The UK is in the midst of an energy crisis
noted that the North Sea industry stood ready with ever-increasing prices driving people into
to invest billions in the development of technol- fuel poverty whilst giving huge sums of money
ogies such as hydrogen and carbon capture and to oppressive regimes,” Jim Ratcliffe, Ineos
storage (CCS). chairman, said. “It’s a ridiculous situation with
In addition, the government said it would set so much gas under our feet and we are today
up “Gas and Oil New Project Regulatory Accel- offering to drill a shale test site to show that a
erators” to fast-track new hydrocarbon devel- competent operator can be trusted to develop
opments by potentially up to years. At the same the technology safely.”
time, the UK will continue investing in offshore Nuclear
electrification, to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions Another cornerstone of the policy paper is
from the industry. nuclear energy. The government is calling for a
tripling of the country’s nuclear energy capacity
Shale revival to 24 GW by 2050, so that it supplies a quarter of
The government also sees a potential future for total electricity. It aims to take a final investment
shale gas onshore. Prime Minister Boris John- decision (FID) on at least one project in the cur-
son’s previous government banned hydraulic rent parliament and two more in the following
fracturing needed to exploit shale gas in late one. It wants to deploy up to eight more large-
2019 ahead of a general election. But recently sized reactors and also small modular reactors.

P4 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 15 15•April•2022