TY - CHAP
T1 - A low-carbon future for The North Sea Basin
AU - Quirk, David G.
AU - Underhill, John R.
AU - Gluyas, Jon G.
AU - Howe, Matthew J.
AU - Wilson, Hamish A. M.
AU - Anderson, Sean
N1 - Funding Information:
The Acorn project builds upon the Goldeneye study in which Pale Blue Dot is promoting carbon storage in the Atlantic and Cromarty Fields in the Moray Firth, after a licence was awarded in the first offshore carbon storage licence round in 2019. The proposal is to capture CO2 at the St Fer-gus Refinery near Peterhead, NE Scotland, includ-ing from a new blue hydrogen plant, and pump it out to the site through the existing pipeline infra-structure. The project is supported by Shell, Total and Chrysaor.
Funding Information:
In the UK, rather than simply ceasing production and decommissioning the CO2-bearing Miller oil field, BP proposed that it be repurposed as the first depleted field CO2 repository. Although the project had the merit of using the existing CO2-compliant pipeline, it did not gain financial support from the UK Government and the idea was abandoned (BBC 2007).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s). Published by The Geological Society of London. All rights reserved.
PY - 2022/5/24
Y1 - 2022/5/24
N2 - Human emissions of greenhouse gases have caused a predictable rise of 1.2 °C in global temperatures. Over the last 70 years, the rise has occurred at a geologically unprecedented speed and scale. To avoid a worsening situation, most developed nations are turning to renewable sources of power to meet their climate commitments, including the UK, Norway, Denmark and The Netherlands. The North Sea basin offers many advantages in the transition from fossil fuels by virtue of its natural resources, physical setting, offshore infrastructure and skilled workforce. Nonetheless, the magnitude of the up-front costs and the scale required to achieve net zero emissions are rarely acknowledged. In addition, some of the technologies being planned are commercially immature. In particular, the current cost of the capture, transport and disposal of carbon dioxide is problematic as a large-scale solution to industrial emissions. Repurposing the North Sea to meet a low-carbon future will require substantial collaboration between governments and industrial sectors. There are nonetheless significant opportunities for companies prepared to switch from the traditional oil and gas business to renewable energy production and other sustainable activities.
AB - Human emissions of greenhouse gases have caused a predictable rise of 1.2 °C in global temperatures. Over the last 70 years, the rise has occurred at a geologically unprecedented speed and scale. To avoid a worsening situation, most developed nations are turning to renewable sources of power to meet their climate commitments, including the UK, Norway, Denmark and The Netherlands. The North Sea basin offers many advantages in the transition from fossil fuels by virtue of its natural resources, physical setting, offshore infrastructure and skilled workforce. Nonetheless, the magnitude of the up-front costs and the scale required to achieve net zero emissions are rarely acknowledged. In addition, some of the technologies being planned are commercially immature. In particular, the current cost of the capture, transport and disposal of carbon dioxide is problematic as a large-scale solution to industrial emissions. Repurposing the North Sea to meet a low-carbon future will require substantial collaboration between governments and industrial sectors. There are nonetheless significant opportunities for companies prepared to switch from the traditional oil and gas business to renewable energy production and other sustainable activities.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85128994382&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1144/SP494-2020-236
DO - 10.1144/SP494-2020-236
M3 - Chapter
AN - SCOPUS:85128994382
SN - 9781786204578
VL - 494
T3 - Geological Society Special Publication
SP - 197
EP - 213
BT - Cross-Border Themes in Petroleum Geology I
PB - Geological Society of London
ER -
