How Worley is paving the way to net zero thinking

We’ve achieved so much and witnessed a great deal of change since the discovery of North Sea oil in 1969. The UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) has produced around 45 billion barrels of oil since production began over half a century ago, and there’s still over 20 billion barrels of oil remaining. Today, producing and extracting oil and gas is responsible for around 3.5 per cent of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions.

While we may have figured out how to extract energy sources from the earth and use them to power our lives, it’s come at a cost. The excess carbon dioxide is trapping heat in our atmosphere.

“We need to find the solutions now to transform our energy systems, while keeping the lights on and our industries fuelled, but with a fraction of the carbon emissions. We’ve already made progress towards net zero via Road Map 2035. But there’s a lot left to do,” says Daniel McAteer, Vice President of Energy, Aberdeen.

“Oil and gas producers are struggling to retain their social license to operate and meet their carbon reduction targets, while they supply the energy needed to maintain the day-to-day life we take for granted,” he says. “As we transition to a more sustainable future, we need to acknowledge the role that traditional energy sources will play during this energy transition.”

Decarbonising assets

While net zero is one of the industry’s biggest challenges, it’s also one of the biggest enablers for both innovation and cross sector collaboration. Oil and gas production assets need to become greener. So, what if we powered these facilities with renewable energy sources?

By powering assets with renewable electricity instead of traditional gas, we remove the need for gas turbines that require ongoing maintenance. And there’s a growing renewables industry ready to make this happen. Our ambition is for 75% of our projects to deliver a more sustainable world by 2026 and our expertise in sustainable technologies with a track record of delivering complex projects is what differentiates us. We have a rapidly growing portfolio of projects contributing to the delivery and acceleration of the energy transition across a range of areas such as solar, wind, hydrogen, CCUS and more.

“The UK supply chain needs to work together to make sure we can overcome the challenges we are facing, while having a positive environmental and economic impact,” says McAteer. “We can take tried-and-tested knowledge from oil and gas and combine it with the current innovation around renewables. And in doing so, we can accelerate the adoption of renewables while decarbonising the hydrocarbons industry.”

To make all this happen, our supply chain contracting model needs to change. How we deliver projects in the future will be assessed on the proportionate value they bring to the customer and the climate – low-cost, reliable delivery solutions will be key. We’re now seeing encouragement for more green contracting models through global companies that deliver locally, supported by the North Sea Transition Deal.

Importance of people

With the targets of net zero by 2050 looming, we need to look at new ways of working, new technologies and new skill sets so that we can continue to produce valuable North Sea resources in more sustainable ways. To make this sustainable transformation a reality, we’re transitioning from an engineering partner in energy, chemicals and resources to a solutions provider leading partners and societies to a more sustainable world.

“We’re looking for talented individuals to drive the transition forward. We recognise that the key to retaining great people – and attracting new talent – is to offer people the opportunity to transition into the emerging sectors they’re interested in. We’re focused on making this transition as easy and accessible as possible so we’re rolling out a range of learning modules and on-the-job reskilling to support our people who’ve worked in traditional carbon-intensive areas as they make the jump into emerging fields, such as offshore wind, low-carbon hydrogen, carbon capture, use & storage and environmental consulting.” Says Mcateer.

Delivering a more sustainable world

If we bring together the technological capabilities of oil and gas, the availability of renewable energy resources, digital technology, the societal demand for decarbonisation and the determination of our workforce, the North Sea could become an example of a collaborative decarbonisation powerhouse. We can then lead the world in the transition to low-carbon solutions as we export this knowledge around the world.

“Decarbonising the UKCS isn’t going to be simple. And there’s a lot of pressure to get it right,” says McAteer “But as we remain focused on delivering a more sustainable world, I’ve never had more faith that we can do it.”

We deliver projects and provide engineering, procurement and construction expertise to the upstream, midstream, chemicals, power, and mining and minerals sectors.

For more information see our website: www.worley.com

Read the latest issue of the OGV Energy magazine HERE