Floating wind

8 Martin Dronfield, Executive Chair,

EEEGR

Offshore oil and gas licensing round launched

As energy prices rocket, a licensing round for oil and gas exploration around the UK has been launched.

The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) has launched its 33rd licensing round for the Southern North sea, the UK’s main gas basin, it says.

Welcoming the round, the East of England Energy Group (EEEGR) said it hoped to address security of supply for the medium to long term.

“With a focus on energy security, our region is quite literally keeping the nation’s lights on, and heating our homes and businesses.” said executive chair Martin Dronfield. ”We really need to see a more integrated strategy for offshore energy developments across oil and gas, wind, hydrogen and carbon capture, and associated infrastructure, to really maximise the potential of our region’s skills and supply chain businesses.”

FLOATING OFFSHORE WIND PIPELINE DOUBLES IN 1 YEAR

A report by Renewables UK reckons the global pipeline of floating offshore wind has project has more than doubled in 12 months.

A year ago, worldwide projects of wind generated 91GW among 130 projects, the agency says.

Now, there are 230 projects generating a total of 185GW of electricity, the EnergyPulse Insights report says.

“The pipeline includes projects at any stage: operational, under construction, approved, in the planning system or at an early stage of development,” Renewables UK says.

Spearheading the projects is the UK, with the largest floating wind portfolio in the world, at 33GW, the report claims. ”The UK’s pipeline has increased from 23GW a year ago to over 33GW, and from 29 projects to 51, which are being developed in the North Sea (Scottish and English waters), Celtic Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean,” says Rnewables UK. ”Within the global 185GW pipeline, 121MW is fully commissioned over nine projects in seven countries, 96MW is under construction, 288MW is consented or in the preconstruction phase, 31GW is in planning or has a lease agreement and 153GW is in early development or is in the leasing process.”

8 Hywind, the world’s first offshore

floating wind installation in Norway, 2009

CARBON CAPTURE AT SCALE UNDER TRIAL

A joint project has been launched to investigate the onboard capture, storage and off-loading of carbon dioxide in what is thought to be a world first.

The project, initiated by the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation (GMCD), has rounded up the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI), Stena Bulk and Alfa Laval, among others, as technology partners.

It aims to demonstrate end-to-end shipboard carbon capture at scale by testing a carbon capture unit onboard a Stena Bulk MR tanker to assess operation challenges while the ship is at sea.

“Since the production of zero-carbon fuels to scale will take some time, we see carbon capture coupled with low carbon fuels as one of the potential pathways to help the shipping industry navigate to a net zero future,” said Sameer Kalra, president of the Marine Division with Alfa Laval.

“We want to evaluate the commercial and environmental implications as well as identify the challenges and opportunities in the implementation of a carbon capture system on board a vessel. The findings will help in the development of the technology at scale.”

APPROVALS PUSH INSURANCE MERGER PLANS FORWARD

North and Standard Club are a step further towards merging to form NorthStandard in February 2023.

Approvals from the UK’s Competition and Regulatory Authorities mark a major step forwards in the plan to merge, says Rob McInally, director of marketing and communications with North P&I. Once formally merged in February, the new NorthStandard will be one of the largest providers of insurance in the maritime industry, with consolidated premiums of around $750 million (€773 million) a year.

“The approval from several regulatory and competition authorities in key regions around the world is a major step towards enabling our plans as NorthStandard to offer a competitive range of high-quality services to our members and brokers”, said Jeremy Grose, Standard Club CEO. “The merger will allow us to work together with our colleagues from North to shape an organization to meet the challenges of a changing shipping world.”