Oil And Gas Is The New Coal

It’s impossible to ignore the fact that the Oil and Gas sector in the UK is becoming increasingly unpopular.

Public opinion is shifting ever more rapidly towards, or some might say further into, negativity.

Whist demand for oil and gas remains, there comes a point that this is not enough. The obvious example of this is coal. There remains a demand for energy that cannot be met by renewable resources. Coal would be able to meet this demand and it remains abundantly available in the U.K. In 2019 it was identified that there were 3,910,000,000 tonnes of hard coal left in the UK yet it only produced 2 million tonnes in that same year. In 2009 it produced 18 million tonnes. In 1999 that figure was 37 million. There comes a point that availability to meet demand wilts in the face of public pressure and Oil and Gas is the new coal.

UK Coal Production 1913 - 2020

There will be a point in the not too distant future that this weight of public pressure will lead to a cessation of exploration in the North Sea.

Given this almost inevitable outcome, it is all the more essential that the current assets and infrastructure are maintained as efficiently and effectively as possible to maximise their longevity. The quality of maintenance carried out now will also play a pivotal role in the cost of maintenance in the future as the assets age.

A recently survey identified that most operators foresee an increase in revenue in 2022. This provides an opportunity to invest in maintenance and efficiency improvement programs in the next few years to ensure that the existing assets, likely to be among the last that we see in the North Sea, can reliably and safely soften the essential and inevitable transition in the years to come.