Offshore staff
LONDON — Britain’s North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) says the offshore oil and gas sector needed to demonstrate strong ESG (environmental, social and governance) credentials to help raise finance.
Its inaugural ESG Disclosure report, which is a sample of 31 UK licensees, found that the sector had improved its ESG reporting in recent years. Most companies now provide information related to recommendations made by the NSTA’s ESG Taskforce in March 2021.
In addition, new regulatory requirements and the increased engagement of external specialists to verify data have further improved ESG-related disclosures.
But there is a need for further standardized disclosures that demonstrate clear progress in meeting net-zero commitments.
According to the NSTA, the “best in class” companies in the industry combine their ESG data for publishing in an easy-to-find, central location, providing greater consistency and comparability year-on-year.
The report coincided with an announcement by the banking group HSBC concerning its plans to support net zero. While HSBC recognizes that oil and gas production will remain essential to global energy security, it has decided to stop providing upstream finance for development of new oil and gas fields and related infrastructure.
Industry association Offshore Energies UK responded that decline of the UK’s existing offshore producing fields meant that continued exploration—and related financing—were essential to the UK’s energy security.
Senior investor relations adviser Francesca Bell said, “At the moment our members produce nearly 40% of the nation’s gas. We can only maintain that kind of output by constant investment."
“In the future we want to move to supplying low-carbon energy. But that will need investment too. This is a multi-decade project," she continued. "If financial institutions withdraw support, then the UK’s energy security will be undermined, and the government will struggle to deliver a home-grown transition to cleaner energies.”
12.15.2022
