David Bamford, Director, Content, for Finding Petroleum

Pretty much 10 years after the then Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change in the UK’s Coalition Government wittingly began the demise of UK domestic exploration and production, yesterday the current Energy Minister said this (in the Times): 

“North Sea gas is crucial for our energy security. Britain must keep drilling for gas in the North Sea…”

Hey Ho!

Let’s just say ‘well done, Minister’, for recognising that there’s lots of good reasons why we should be exploring, among them:

There’s less GHG emissions if customers in the UK use gas from the UK, rather than imported LNG.

The ‘balance of payments’ is better if our money is spent in the UK.

The UK is making big steps with Carbon Capture & Storage, leading to a time when our gas production/power supply is decarbonised, directly or via hydrogen, or indirectly as offsets.

A recent webinar presentation by Nick Terrell, industry chair of the UK’s Exploration Task Force, made these points and others – in a particularly compelling way; you can view the video of the webinar here.

KeyFacts Energy Industry Directory: Finding Petroleum