Why it's time to take the brakes off natural gas drilling

The previous and new government strive to deliver on an energy policy that achieves net zero, secure and affordable energy. The UK Southern North Sea (UKSNS) gas remains essential in delivering our energy policy and will continue to do so given demand is expected to extend beyond 2050.

In fact, it is likely we will run out of economically viable gas production before we stop gas production at our own will.

Stepping back, what would the perfect energy source to meet our needs look like? Clean, safe, affordable, constant, storable, dependable, endless, secure, transportable, free from side effects and invisible, yet we are still to find and unlock this perfect energy source.

For the distant future – and until we find the holy grail – we will use multiple energy sources, working in harmony to meet our daily needs.

Natural gas from the UKSNS continues to play a critical role in that energy mix and will continue to do so for a long time to come. Its role and benefits should not be underestimated especially when considering the alternative option of importing gas.

Shortly after the first discovery in 1965, infrastructure was installed to safely transport hydrocarbon molecules from beneath the seabed to our doorstep.

These molecules embark on a short journey via the Bacton gas terminal on the coast of Norfolk, where gas is gathered from the various gas fields and treated to condition it for our daily needs before entering the National Transmission System.

A sizeable percentage of the original network remains in place today, reliably serving the UK energy needs in the background, working almost unnoticed regardless of weather, heating our homes and backing up the energy shortfall during evenings and those still days with little sun.

Julian Manning believes the government needs to take the brakes off UK drilling (Image: Paradigm)
The sentiment for fossil fuels is at a low, sometimes referred to as the ‘new smoking.’ Gas is the cleanest fossil fuel in comparison to oil and coal and is an integral part of our how we live our lives.

As an essential transition fuel enabling the energy transition, it is classified by the European Union as a green transition fuel, meeting the needs of today while helping unlock cleaner and new energy sources.

During and coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic, we arguably ‘fell on our sword’ as a nation too early, perhaps dreaming of a new tomorrow while being ill prepared to bridge the transition from hydrocarbons to renewables, which in turn has driven higher energy costs and caused an imbalance in our energy supply, all being compounded by isolating the supply of Russian gas into the European network.

As a nation we are extremely vulnerable; if all the UK gas production and importation stopped tomorrow, we only have a matter of days of gas in storage before we have a meltdown of the infrastructure and businesses that rely on gas as an energy source.

To put this in perspective, Germany, a natural importer of gas, has more than four months’ storage, which acts as a strategic reserve of gas.

Considering the above, several like-minded people formed the SNS Gas Transition Sector Council in 2022 under the banner of the East of England Energy Group (EEEGR), with a view to set out the role of our local gas industry and identify focus groups to work on the following core requirements:

• Maximising economic recovery (MER) - Focusing on efficiently extracting as much gas out of our existing infrastructure to extend its viable life and contribute to energy security.
• Net zero production - Working on initiatives to reduce the carbon impact of direct and indirect emissions of gas production and transportation into the National Transmission System.
• Reuse, repurpose and decommissioning - Focusing on efficiently and responsibly retiring assets once cessation of production (CoP) occurs and/or where possible repurposing for new applications or reusing infrastructure for future operations.
• Enabling the energy transition - A platform to work on migration of gas production to new energy-related production such as hydrogen, carbon capture, geothermal and electrification.

UK gas is much cleaner, secure and affordable than imported gas, especially comparing liquefied natural gas (LNG), so why do we prioritise importation rather than driving and incentivising production in the UK?

One could be led to think that this is political optics and spin, as no other logical argument seems to exist.

Consider that around 14% of the UK gas supply is LNG being imported from Qatar and predicted to grow. Qatar is expanding rapidly; drilling, installing new production facilities and building LNG carriers.

All of this has a higher carbon impact on the planet rather than prioritising existing UK infrastructure, which is already in place to tie back new development or stimulating a production increase.
 

A Shell/Esso gas rig platform is almost ready in April 1978, after months of engineering and electrical work at Lowestoft, to move out to the Indefatigable Bank off Bacton (Image: EDP Library)
Qatari gas is significantly worse for the environment than UKSNS gas considering it must be liquefied for transport, which is highly energy intensive and expensive to get the molecules to -160 deg C for shipping.

Then the molecules must be shipped over 4,500 miles to UK shores, as opposed to a hundred or so miles to enter the grid when comparing UKSNS gas.

And before we can get the gas into the UK grid, we need to heat the cryogenic liquid back to a gas, often conditioning it as well. In simple terms, you can associate gas in some respect to food miles, meaning the shorter we transport gas molecules, less carbon dioxide is emitted and there is less likelihood of any methane emissions.

We need to prioritise recovering every local molecule and getting them to market over taking imported gas. The UK is also a more regulated production environment, meaning less flaring, venting and methane emissions during drilling and production.

Regardless of how much drilling and production enhancement we do in the UK, our demand will mean that we continue to require imported gas. However, we must get the message to government to take the brakes off UK drilling and incentivise activity.

Every UK molecule counts! It’s greener, cheaper and, for the new government, you get the small bonus of increasing energy security and protecting the livelihoods of the thousands of workers and support staff that rely on our regional gas business.