In recent years there have been concerted protests against the development of fields in the North Sea, notably Cambo and Jackdaw, and the government has been forced to cancel its approval of some these developments. The case made by Greenpeace, Just Stop Oil and others is that such developments will increase CO 2 emissions in this country and run counter to government policies to combat global warming.
The reduction of C0 2 is an important goal for any government butIi believe there is a misunderstanding here. The focus should be on persuading people to reduce their consumption of fossil fuels, rather than on production in the UK. If consumption levels do not fall, then all that will happen is that gas and oil, still required by UK customers, will simply be imported from USA Norway, Russia or Saudi Arabia. All the jobs and revenues will simply be generated elsewhere, and the UK will miss out.
In fact, the outcome may be even worse than that. New UK gas oil field developments will certainly generate additional CO 2, but a lot less than the imports of gas required to replace such developments. CO 2 emissions are a world problem not just confined to the UK. If gas is not produced here, the alternative is probably to import LNG from the United States. However, there will be a significant level of CO 2 production associated with such imports:-
– Long distance pipelines required to deliver gas from the gas fields to the Liquefaction plants,
will require compression, which is a significant user of gas for fuel, which in turn produces
CO 2 .
– The LNG terminals themselves are heavy users of gas, with around 9% of throughput used
for plant fuel use with corresponding significant CO 2 emissions.
– Finally, CO 2 will be produced by the LNG vessels used to transport the LNG to Europe.
In comparison, CO 2 production in UKCS fields is relatively modest. The paradox is, that failing to develop UKCS fields could have the opposite effect, and World Emission levels would actually rise as a result.
Finally, the recent court judgment which requires Government to take account of CO 2 emissions when granting oil and gas development consents would in theory not pose a problem, if such assessment was made on a world basis rather than simply focusing on the UK alone.
