Offshore staff
LONDON — Britain’s North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) expects to assume the role of offshore hydrogen transport and storage regulator following a consultation process.
The aim is to help the industry progress planned projects by obtaining the required licenses and consents and move quickly into operation. Subject to Parliamentary approval, the legislation will take effect in 21 days.
The NSTA will become the licensing/consenting authority for offshore hydrogen pipelines bringing them under similar arrangements to those that currently apply for oil and gas pipelines.
In addition, it will be the licensing/consenting authority for offshore hydrogen storage, allowing the NSTA to issue hydrogen storage licenses, and a consultee to the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning (OPRED) on decommissioning and repurposing of facilities for offshore hydrogen transport and storage.
OPRED will become the UK’s decommissioning and environmental regulator for offshore hydrogen transport and storage.
It follows the publication of the UK Hydrogen Strategy in 2021. In April 2022, the UK government declared an ambition for 10 GW of low-carbon hydrogen production capacity to be available for use across the economy by 2030 in its British Energy Security Strategy report.
The UK Hydrogen Strategy estimated that 5 GW of low-carbon hydrogen production could produce hydrogen equivalent to the amount of gas consumed annually by more than 3 million UK households.
09.07.2023
