Response to the Oil and Gas Authority’s ‘Consultation on proposals to revise the MER UK Strategy’

The Grantham Research Institute submitted this response in July 2020 to a consultation launched by the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) in May 2020 to gather views on its intention to refresh its core aim as stated in its Maximising Economic Recovery Strategy for the UK [MER UK Strategy], which came into force in March 2016. The central obligation of the strategy includes a requirement for industry to help the UK government achieve the target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

The Introduction to the response states: “The proposed new strategy for the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) represents a historic shift in the regulation of the UK’s offshore oil and gas industry to explicitly prioritise for the first time its contribution to the nation’s efforts to tackle climate change. The new strategy would establish the UK’s statutory target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050 as a strategic priority alongside maximising economic recovery. This response to the OGA’s consultation on a new strategy is intended to strengthen the overall approach outlined in the proposed strategy. In particular, we suggest that the strategy includes a requirement to help the industry to prepare for the decline in oil and gas production from the offshore industry, as reserves are gradually depleted and an expected reduction in domestic and overseas demand for oil and gas occurs over the coming decades.”

For more information about the consultation see: www.ogauthority.co.uk/news-publications/consultations/2020/consultation-on-new-oga-strategy/ 

For more information about the MER UK Strategy see: www.ogauthority.co.uk/regulatory-framework/mer-uk-strategy/