UK offshore operators reducing flaring, improving production efficiency

Offshore staff

LONDON – Britain’s North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) has approved seven oil and gas projects since early 2022 with combined investments of about £1.1 billion ($1.37 billion) and capable of producing almost 100 MMbbl.

Operators have plans for a further 22 projects in the coming years, the NSTA added, targeting 1.5 Bbbl in total.

The NSTA presented these and other statistics to managing directors of the UK’s 22 largest North Sea operators at its annual Tier Zero performance review meeting.

During last year’s presentations, the NSTA asked operators to improve their production efficiency following a drop of seven percentage points to 73% in 2021, a year of widespread offshore maintenance shutdowns (programs had been delayed in 2020 because of COVID).

The message may have helped, as production efficiency rose to 78% last year. The NSTA’s longer-term target is 80%.

Flaring on the UK Continental Shelf has halved since 2018, and the NSTA sees this trend continuing, with companies highlighting plans to improve energy efficiency and reduce flaring further.

UK operators also have obligations to invest in powering their platforms with “clean” electricity to meet the UK’s North Sea Transition Deal target of lowering production emissions by 50% by 2030.

The NSTA expects decisions to be taken later this year on preferred concepts for at least two electrification projects.

In addition, companies are examining options to repurpose and reuse offshore oil and gas infrastructure for low-carbon projects including hydrogen and carbon storage.

The NSTA will shortly announce its awards for the UK’s first carbon storage licensing round, which drew 26 bids from 19 companies.

05.12.2023