The UK Government body charged to regulate, influence and promote the UK oil and gas industry is stepping up work on the energy transition, and addressing potential synergies with offshore wind. The Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) in the UK is addressing ways to support the energy transition alongside its core role of maximising economic recovery of UK oil and gas. The OGA will publish a policy position on its role in the energy transition in the spring, and an enhanced oil recovery strategy (EOR), covering carbon dioxide EOR, in the autumn. But it is taking its role in the energy transition a step further with a project exploring the potential for a more integrated offshore energy sector, including closer links between oil and gas production and offshore renewables, including offshore wind. The OGA has secured a £900,000 (US$1.2M) grant from the Better Regulation Executive’s Regulators’ Pioneer Fund to begin this latest project. It will look at the mix of energy sources and storage solutions needed for the transition to a low carbon economy in areas including: The OGA is working with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), The Crown Estate, Ofgem and other stakeholders to test for potential technical and regulatory opportunities in the short-term, while also looking at longer-term opportunities to maximise the value of the UK continental shelf through energy integration. This can also enhance the value of the existing infrastructure; skills, technology and supply chains. The project will conclude in Q2 2020. Oil & Gas Authority chief executive Dr Andy Samuel said, “This is a really exciting opportunity to advance the energy transition agenda, looking at practical steps that can be taken and how we as regulators can support that. Oil and gas will be required to power our economy and heat our homes for the foreseeable future, but to me it is clear there are great opportunities now to more closely link up all forms of offshore energy production to generate power more cleanly and efficiently.” The Crown Estate head of energy development Will Apps said, “As managers of the seabed around England, Wales and Northern Ireland, we are pleased to be working with the OGA and other partners to support this project, helping to pave the way for greater market innovation in the critical area of energy integration, and support the UK’s ongoing transition to a low carbon energy mix.” Energy integration themes considered in the project include:
The Wales's Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) has secured a grant of £900,000 ($1.2m) to launch a project exploring integrations between the offshore wind and the oil and gas sector. The OGA will work alongside the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, The Crown Estate, Ofgem and others, to identify short and long-term synergies, from platform electrification to infrastructure sharing. The project is scheduled to finish in 2020, while the OGA is set to release a policy document examining energy transition in the spring, followed by one covering enhanced oil recovery strategy in autumn.