Fossil Fuels

A former chief energy regulator is embracing the shift to greener technologies in the North Sea, joining an emerging carbon capture and hydrogen business as chairman. Alistair Buchanan, who was head of the regulator Ofgem for a decade to 2013, has been appointed non-executive chairman at Storegga Geotechnologies. The private company led by former oil and gas producer Ophir Energy’s Nick Cooper is backed by major global investors Macquarie, Mitsui and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC. It is behind the Acorn project to stash carbon dioxide emissions under the North Sea off the Scottish coast and produce hydrogen, as well as other carbon removal efforts. Mr Buchanan helped devise the regulatory system for the offshore wind industry and onshore electricity networks while chairing Ofgem.

Telegraph 17th May 2021 read more »

Join James Marriott, Terry Macalister and a wide-ranging panel for this special launch event (on 19th May) marking the release of Crude Britannia: How Oil Shaped a Nation, published by Pluto Press, as part of Radical May. Taking the reader on a journey from North East Scotland, Merseyside and South Wales to the Thames Estuary and London, this is the story of Britain’s oil-drenched past, present and future; of a black gold empire built on financial power, political meddling and environmental destruction. For decades, BP and Shell extracted the minerals, finance and skills of the UK. Working behind the scenes, Big Oil profoundly influenced the country’s culture. Then, at the start of the 21st century, the tide seemed to go out – Britain’s refineries were quietly closed; the North Sea oilfields declined. Now, while the country goes through the seismic upheavals of Brexit and the climate emergency, many believe the age of oil to be over. But is it? The authors speak to oil company executives and traders, as well as refinery workers, filmmakers and musicians, activists and politicians, putting real people at the heart of a compelling story.

Pluto Press 16th May 2021 read more »

Shell is braced for its largest climate rebellion this week as shareholders face the choice between backing the oil giant’s carbon-cutting plans or siding with an activist investor who is calling for tougher emissions targets. With its annual meeting planned for Tuesday, the Anglo-Dutch company has called on its investors to vote against a shareholder resolution from campaign group Follow This in favour of its own plans to reduce its emissions to “net zero” by 2050. The milestone battle will take place after BP saw support among its shareholders for the Follow This campaign double in a similar vote last week. The activists were ultimately defeated, but won 21.1% of shareholder support, up from just over 8% when Follow This put forward a resolution in 2019.

Observer 16th May 2021 read more »

A Scottish university has linked up with a North Sea-focused oil and gas firm in a bid to help accelerate the drive to decarbonise the industry amid pressure from environmentalists for curbs to be imposed on the sector. Heriot -Watt University has won backing from Independent Oil and Gas (IOG) for a research programme that could spur the development of carbon capture and storage projects which it is hoped could play a big part in the net zero drive. Champions of carbon capture and storage have said depleted North Sea fields could be used to store huge amounts of carbon dioxide emissions that would otherwise go into the atmosphere.

Herald 15th May 2021 read more »

The Asian Development Bank (ADB), which serves more than half the world’s population, has decided it will no longer finance coal for electric generation and heating plants and instead will aid poor countries in the rapid phase-out of existing coal plants. So for Old King Coal, it’s good-bye to Asia. The bank’s new policy document says coal has no future if developing countries are to avoid the worst effects of climate change. It aims to phase out all coal plants in Asia by the middle of the century.

Climate News Network 14th May 2021 read more »

Support for fracking fell to its lowest level in the latest phase of a government survey of public attitudes, published today. 23% of people questioned in the quarterly Wave Tracker survey supported the process. This was down two percentage points on the figure in December 2020. Opposition to fracking rose to 36%, up two percentage points from the previous survey.

Drill or Drop 13th May 2021 read more »

BP has fended off a proposal calling for greater action on climate change but shareholder support more than doubled for the demands of the activist group that proposed it.

FT 12th May 2021 read more »

UN experts have found a new way to limit climate change, save lives, save the economy and reduce crop losses. It’s simple: start reducing emissions of the natural gas methane and bring them down by 45% in one generation. Drastic methane cuts can work wonders for the global climate. Methane − also known as marsh gas − is a potent greenhouse gas and a dangerous air pollutant. According to a new UN Environment Programme (UNEP) assessment, a cut of approaching half of emissions by 2045 would prevent an estimated 260,000 premature deaths, save 775,000 asthma-related visits to hospital, and prevent 73 billion hours of labour lost because of extreme temperatures and annual crop losses of 25 million tonnes. “Cutting methane is the strongest lever we have to slow climate change over the next 25 years and complements necessary efforts to reduce carbon dioxide,” said Inger Andersen, UNEP’s executive director. “The benefits to society, economies and the environment are numerous and far outweigh the cost. We need international cooperation to urgently reduce methane emissions as much as possible this decade.” The proposal is unlikely to meet with any argument from the world’s climate scientists, who have welcomed the report and its conclusions. “Seldom in the world of climate change action is there a solution so stuffed with win-wins,” said Dave Reay of the University of Edinburgh’s climate change institute.

Climate News Network 13th May 2021 read more »

Energy firms estimate project could capture up to 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 from the new gas power plant each year. SSE and Equinor have today unveiled plans to jointly develop a new 900MW gas fired power station fitted with carbon capture technology in Peterhead, Scotland, which they estimate could avoid up to 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 generated by the facility each year. Situated at the same site as SSE’s existing gas fired power station, the new gas-fired power plant could achieve up to 15 per cent of the UK government’s target to capture 10 million tonnes of CO2 each year by 2030, according to the two companies.

Business Green 11th May 2021 read more »

Plans to capture carbon emissions from what has been called Scotland’s most polluting industrial site have been criticised by environmental campaigners. Friends of the Earth Scotland said that the ambition to make Peterhead power station greener was just delaying its “inevitable closure”. The gas-fired power station in Aberdeenshire is the last in Scotland to run on fossil fuels. SSE, the utility and infrastructure investor that owns the power station, is partnering with the energy group Equinor to explore the use of carbon capture and storage as part of a redevelopment project. Figures published last year by the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency showed that the Peterhead facility emitted 1.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2018. That was more than Petroineos’s Grangemouth and ExxonMobil’s Mossmorran plant.

Times 12th May 2021 read more »

Environmental campaigners have launched a legal challenge against the UK Government, arguing that its continued support for expanding oil and gas production in the North Sea is incompatible with its climate laws and commitment to ‘levelling up’. Brought forward by new campaign group Paid to Pollute, the application is for the High Court to conduct a judicial preview of the Oil and Gas Authority’s (OGA) recently updated strategy. The campaigners, represented by law firm Leigh Day, claim that the strategy is not aligned with the UK’s legally binding net-zero target. This criticism had already been levelled at Ministers several times – most recently with the publication of the North Sea Transition Deal. Of particular contention is the fact that the updated OGA strategy states that the sector has a “legal duty to maximise economic recovery” of oil and gas. Campaigners claim that this paves the way for new sites, and for uneconomic operations to continue to be propped up by subsidies.

Edie 12th May 2021 read more »

FT 11th May 2021 read more »

Energy Voice 12th May 2021 read more »

Telegraph 12th May 2021 read more »

AN SNP Common Weal group organiser has launched a David-and-Goliath court battle with a UK Government agency over North Sea oil and gas. An Edinburgh University medical student is also one of three campaigners challenging the Westminster-owned Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) and Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng at the High Court.

The National 12th May 2021 read more »

Despite the hold that oil has had on our lives for the last century through cars, chemicals, plastics, pesticides and almost every facet of daily life, including keeping millions of people in employment, it is something few of us ever think about. Big Oil’s malign influence has left us unaware. But oil has a remarkable story to tell: its rise, its ascendancy in all our lives, and now, if civilisation is to survive, its fall. These phases are all described in a new book, Crude Britannia: How Oil Shaped a Nation. Although the book is specifically about oil’s role in shaping the United Kingdom, it is also concerned with the way oil changes the politics and national economies of the rest of the world.

Climate News Network 12th May 2021 read more »

According to a new paper from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the UK’s carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) sector could scale rapidly to support 50,000 jobs by mid-century. Published late on Friday (7 May), the policy paper states that the UK will aim to capture and store 10 million tonnes of CO2 per year by 2030. Should this target be met, and progress continue accelerating between 2030 and 2050, the paper states, some 50,000 jobs could be supported.

Edie 10th May 2021 read more »

Plans for a new low-carbon power station in the north-east, which would support hundreds of jobs during the construction and operation phase, have been unveiled. SSE Thermal and Equinor have teamed up to develop what could become one of the UK’s first power stations to be equipped with carbon capture and storage in Peterhead. It’s claimed the plant would “propel” the UK’s net zero ambitions, meeting 15% of the UK Government’s 10 million tonne target for carbon captured by 2030.

Energy Voice 11th May 2021 read more »

Energy giants SSE and Equinor are planning to build the first power station in Scotland to use carbon capture technology. The gas-fired power station at Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, could capture up to 1.5m tonnes of carbon dioxide from its emissions each year. The development, which is still dependent on securing sufficient investment, is hoped to be ready by 2026. SSE and Equinor are also developing two low-carbon power stations in North Lincolnshire, announced last month. The Peterhead power station would achieve 15pc of the Government’s target to capture 10m tonnes of CO2 annually by 2030, according to major Scottish energy supplier SSE.

Telegraph 11th May 2021 read more »