Wireline Magazine Autumn 2020 Issue 49

Industry Recovery Group members hosted their first webinar in September to discuss the role of the group and what the path to a recovery looks like.

“We’ve actively been identifying stimulus options, working with industry and the government,” adds Scott. “The OGA has been continuously re-prioritising. We de- prioritised stewardship reviews to enable operators to focus on the COVIDmobilisation issues they were facing. We created a temporary, flexible, pragmatic approach to licensing because we recognised, due to mobilisation issues and a dramatic change in prices, some licensees may need longer to execute their work programmes. “We’ve also been highly active in the central North Sea in creating critical mass and trying to catalyse activity around electrisation of some of the oil and gas hubs in that area. We’ve been actively supporting the carbon capture and storage licensees to ensure good progress on their pilot projects, and where new companies have approached this in CCUS, we’ve been pointing them to industrial clusters and advising on opportunities to use oil and gas infrastructure.” The team recognise the road to recovery will not be easy, but the skills and know-how inherent in the industry can help set it back on its own two feet. In the face of this perfect storm, one thing is clear; the key is to remain collaborative, energy conscious and competitive to ensure this sector recaptures its prosperity and is aligned on a journey of transition. Summarising the discussion, Katy said: “Conditions remain tough but we should be proud of our work, of the world-class response we had to the pandemic and how we’re continuing to work hard to keep the lights on.”

first to say that no one has a more important role to play in that energy transition than our industry.” “We should not just be a part of it; we should be a driving force within it. We may not share land or sea with the countries which export to us, but we do share the same sky and we share the responsibility for the emissions that go into producing energy for this country.” LNG imports tripled between 2018 and 2019, coming predominantly from Qatar, the USA and Russia, but Neil believes looking to the rest of the world to meet our energy needs does not solve the emissions equation. “It just means someone else needs to answer it- and the question is whether they can answer it as well as we can. Do these countries have anything that matches Roadmap 2035, or indeed the mature outline of transition sector deal? And so, if we are to drive the energy transition, the question really is how?” he asked. “The crucial thing for me is that the industry really needs to be in a healthy position before we can play our part in delivering that transition.” Surviving the storm OGA Director of Operations, Scott Robertson, believes the industry is better positioned than ever to brave the headwinds. He commented: “We have a globally competitive fiscal regime and we saw the right assets in the right hands, with new entrants… investing in our assets and building the resilience for the challenges that we’ve faced so far. The basin is more collaborative than ever.”

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