A key task force of subsurface experts has relaunched with a new name to reflect the evolution of its activities and membership in support of an orderly transition to net zero.

The Subsurface Task Force’s (STF) purpose is to promote responsible use of storage and energy resources to ensure the UK’s energy security, reduce emissions and deliver societal and economic value. It was relaunched at an event hosted by the University of Aberdeen this week, ahead of a major conference being held in the city, the Energy Geoscience Conference.

The body has been established as a natural evolution of the Exploration Task Force which was established in 2015 with the aim of maintaining exploration and appraisal activity, producing insightful policy papers recommending continued investment in the UK upstream sector.

While the STF continues to support lower-emissions oil and gas exploration and production activity in the North Sea, it increasingly focuses on carbon capture and storage (CCS) and gas storage projects. Last year, it collaborated on a report containing proposals to support the growth of CCS to help the UK meet emissions reduction targets.

The STF’s three priority areas are geological storage, domestic oil and gas, and subsurface skills, with a primary focus on early-stage activities. These include screening, exploration and appraisal of storage and hydrocarbon resources, and spatial planning to ensure efficient use of offshore acreage.

The group will also play an important role in identifying future opportunities, for example, hydrogen storage, as well as geothermal energy production.

In addition, it will soon publish a report into expected demand for geoscience skills as the energy transition gathers pace, along with several recommendations for meeting those requirements.

Members are drawn from a range of stakeholders, including exploration and production and CCS companies, trade associations, regulators, technology developers, supply chain companies and academia.

The STF has broadened its membership by attracting additional CCS industry representatives and other users of the seabed.

Nick Terrell, STF industry co-chair, said:
“This task force has been at the forefront of industry efforts to identify and drive long-term upstream opportunities which have underpinned the UK’s energy security and generated billions of pounds in tax revenues and thousands of high productivity and skilled jobs.

“As the sector has evolved and branched into more areas, the membership of this group has moved with it and now covers the wider subsurface discipline, including CCS.
 
“It is a privilege to lead this group into a new era in which the upstream sector secures the UK’s low-carbon future by delivering and storing domestic supplies – with a smaller carbon footprint than many imports – and realising the North Sea’s world-class carbon storage resource potential.”

Dr Nick Richardson, STF regulatory co-chair, said:
“The STF is a group of expert geoscientists and engineers aiming to support the UK’s industrial decarbonisation efforts through evidence-based and independent evaluations of the big challenges and opportunities facing society as we progress through the energy transition.

“The diversification of the STF’s membership will stimulate greater levels of integration between domain experts and wider stakeholder groups, which is vital if we are to maximise the full value that can be derived from the UK’s national marine resources.”

Prof John Underhill, Aberdeen University’s Director for Energy Transition and STF member, said:
“It is a privilege to host the Subsurface Task Force (STF) on the University of Aberdeen Campus. The group is an independent advisory group, who are focused on tackling the challenges of energy security, equity, environmental sustainability and climate compatibility. The STF’s priorities include geological storage, decarbonizing the oil and gas industry and the skills and training needs to deliver the transition, all of which align well with the aims of the Centre for Energy Transition at Aberdeen University”.