UK to accelerate licensing for development of new gas fields in North Sea

MOSCOW, October 3 – RIA Novosti. Britain will accelerate the issuance of licenses to develop new gas fields in the North Sea, the newspaper reported on Monday. Financial Times With reference to Andy Samuel, head of the North Sea Authority (NSTA).

“In these unusual times, the security of (energy) supply is a concern… (The regulator will do everything possible to support domestic production),” Samuel told the publication.

According to the newspaper, licenses for the development of new gas fields in the Southern North Sea will be given priority and the NSTA will expedite the acceptance and processing of applications for their grant.

However, Samuel noted that licensing in the near future may not significantly reduce Britain’s reliance on energy imports from other countries. Gas production in some fields, which will be opened after the issuance of the licenses, will only be actively produced within a year or a half. Also, the North Sea Basin is an old and well-explored area, so a significant increase in gas production is unlikely.

According to the Financial Times, North Sea gas production currently only supplies 40% of the UK’s needs, and the NSTA estimates that this figure will fall to 30% by 2030.

Earlier, the UK government lifted the moratorium on shale gas production and confirmed its intention to issue more than 100 licenses for gas and oil production in the North Sea to tackle the country’s energy crisis.

The UK government imposed a breaking ban in November 2019 due to the risk of seismic activity. Fracking is a method of extracting energy sources, including shale gas, by hydraulic fracturing.