Young Professionals SIG Meeting – February (Online)

Speaker: Graham Goffey – Soliton Resources Limited Topic: The case for Responsible Upstream Investment in the UK

23rd February 2022

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Event Information

Speaker: Graham Goffey – Soliton Resources Limited

Topic: The case for Responsible Upstream Investment in the UK

Abstract
This talk draws upon the Exploration Task Force’s documented case for responsible upstream investment in the UKCS. The UK upstream industry and the sector’s decarbonisation commitments are placed in a global context. With an anticipated 17 Bnboe of UK oil and gas demand to 2050, the rapid decline in local supply is opening up a growing gap between supply and demand. With UK production generally of lower emissions intensity than imported oil and LNG, UK demand is increasingly driving the offshoring of emissions. New exploration and development of unsanctioned fields can partially mitigate this situation, allowing local production to equate to around 60% of net demand.

The UK’s legal commitment to net zero by 2050 underpins 2021 initiatives including the OGA’s new strategy and specific targets set in the North Sea Transition Deal (NSTD). Together these provide an ambition for the UK upstream industry that has few international parallels and presage a future for the UKCS as an integrated, lower emissions energy production and storage basin.

The NSTD envisages spend of upto £16Bn on development of the first few carbon capture and storage projects, initial development of blue hydrogen manufacture, and development of offshore electrification. In parallel, it establishes measurable emissions reduction targets for UK oil and gas production. The OGA has computed that the UKCS could meet up to 60% of UK net zero abatement needs. In this context, continued exploration is integral to the future of the UKCS. Exploration can reduce UK offshoring of emissions by prolonging local, lower emissions supply, extending the life of infrastructure, contributing to the economic case for electrification and helping maintain key skills for E and A of future carbon storage sites.

Speaker Biography
​​​​​Graham Goffey is a member of the Exploration Task Force (‘XTF’) and was lead author on its investor information pack. He has worked in the upstream industry since 1985, in roles ranging from geoscientist to managing director and has been employed by companies including Conoco, LASMO, Paladin Resources and PA Resources. He founded and runs his own North Sea exploration company, Soliton Resources, working in partnership with Equinor to progress a low risk Central North Sea prospect to drilling.  He is a past chair of the Geological Society’s Petroleum (now Energy) Group and was a Trustee and Treasurer of the Geological Society from 2014 to 2021. He has co-edited several geoscience publications, most recently including Geological Society Memoir 52 on UK Oil and Gas Fields. He is a Chartered Geologist and a director of the UK Oil and Gas Independents Association (OGIA).

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