Draft Sectoral Marine Plans for Offshore Renewable Energy in Scottish Waters: Socio - Economic Assesment

C8. Oil and Gas

C8.1 Scoping Results

The results of the scoping assessment are presented in Table C8.1 (Offshore Wind), Table C8.2 (Wave) and Table C8.3 (Tidal) and indicate whether more detailed assessment is required (Y/N).

Table C8.1 Offshore Wind

	North		North-East		South-West		West			North-West
	OWN1	OWN2	OWNE1	OWNE2	OWSW1	OWSW2	OWW1	OWW2	OWW3	OWNW1
Draft Plan Option areas overlap or lie inshore of existing hydrocarbon fields	N	Y* - for central and high scenario only	Y* - for central and high scenario only	Y* - for central and high scenario only	N**	N	N	N	N	N
Cable corridors overlap or lie inshore of hydrocarbon fields	Y - qualitative assessment		Y - qualitative assessment		N		N			N

* Draft Plan Option areas lie inshore of hydrocarbon fields. However, arrays for low scenarios occupy <5% of Draft Plan Option areas and it has been assumed that spatial planning of the Draft Plan Option areas can be used to avoid significant impacts under this scenario.

** Overlap with existing oil and gas licence blocks and pipelines. Renewables developer will bear the cost of any cable crossings required and will not be able to develop within a set distance (corridor) of these pipelines to enable maintenance access to them.

Table C8.2 Wave

	North			West			North-West
	WN1	WN2	WN3	WW1	WW2	WW3	WNW1	WW4
Draft Plan Option areas overlap or lie inshore of existing hydrocarbon fields	N*	N*	N*	N	N	N	N	N
Cable corridors overlap or lie inshore of hydrocarbon fields	Y - qualitative assessment			N			N

* Draft Plan Option areas lie inshore of hydrocarbon fields. However, arrays for all scenarios occupy <1% of Draft Plan Option areas and it has been assumed that spatial planning of the Draft Plan Option areas can be used to avoid significant impacts under these scenarios.

Table C8.3 Tidal

	North							South-West	West
	TN1	TN2	TN3	TN4	TN5	TN6	TN7	TSW1	TW1	TW2
Draft Plan Option areas overlap or lie inshore of existing hydrocarbon fields	Y* - for high scenario only	Y* - for high scenario only	Y* - for high scenario only	Y* - for high scenario only	N	N	N	N	N	N
Cable corridors overlap or lie inshore of hydrocarbon fields	Y - qualitative assessment							N	N

* Draft Plan Option areas lie inshore of hydrocarbon fields. However, arrays for low and central scenarios occupy <5% of Draft Plan Option areas and it has been assumed that spatial planning of the Draft Plan Option areas can be used to avoid significant impacts under these scenarios.

C8.2 Assessment Results - Estimation of Costs and Benefits

C8.2.1 Increased Competition for Space

Consultation with industry did not highlight any particular areas of concern or 'conflict' between Draft Plan Option areas or export cable corridors and future sector activity (Mick Borwell, Oil and Gas UK, pers. comm.. 4 March 2013). As such, no quantitative cost impact assessment was undertaken.

C8.2.2 Cable/Pipeline Crossings

The standard industry cost of cable crossings is £0.5-£1million ( ODIS, 2011) and this assessment has assumed that this cost will be transferred to the renewables developer should power export cables traverse oil or gas pipelines.

However, concerns relating to cable crossing agreements were highlighted by consultation for another industry sector (Power Interconnectors, see Section C10) which would also apply to the Oil and Gas sector. Specifically, industry have highlighted concerns relating to cable crossings and future liabilities, which if realised may have large cost impacts on the sector. It is not currently possible to estimate these cost impacts.

C8.2.3 Increased Difficulty of Access at Crossing Points

Industry consultation indicated that the width of 'working space' (corridor) required to enable maintenance barge access either side of existing oil and gas infrastructure should be determined on a case by case basis, as the anchor spread of some barges may require larger buffers than those established for previous developments (Mick Borwell, Oil and Gas UK, pers. comm. 4 March 2013).

A further future interaction highlighted by Oil and Gas UK was in relation to the potential removal of pipelines at decommissioning. Although this is not currently required under OSPAR, circumstances may change in the future. The corridor for this activity would have to be determined and is not yet known (Mick Borwell, Oil and Gas UK, pers. comm. 4 March 2013).

C8.2.4 Summary

Consultation with industry indicated that no significant interactions were anticipated between renewable developments and future oil and gas activities that would result in a cost impact to the oil and gas sector. However, where potential renewable development areas (Draft Plan Option areas or cable corridors) overlap with existing infrastructure future liabilities are uncertain. The width of 'corridors' required to enable maintenance activity will also need to be determined on a case by case basis.

C8.3 References

ABPmer, RPA and SQW, 2011. Economic Assessment of Short Term Options for Offshore Wind Energy in Scottish territorial Waters: Costs and Benefits to Other Marine Users and Interests. Report for Marine Scotland. Report R. 1743, March 2011.

Baxter, J.M., Boyd, I.L., Cox, M., Donald, A.E., Malcolm, S.J., Miles, H., Miller, B., Moffat, C.F., (Editors), 2011. Scotland's Marine Atlas: Information for the national marine plan. Marine Scotland, Edinburgh.

Department for Energy and Climate Change ( DECC). 2013. UKCS Oil and Gas Production Projections. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/136390/production_projections.pdf

Infrastructure Planning Commission ( IPC), 2010. Scoping Opinion: Proposed Triton Knoll Offshore Wind Farm. September, 2010.

ODIS, 2011. Offshore Development Information Statement: Appendices. Published by National Grid in September 2011.

Oil and Gas UK. 2012a. Economic Report, 2012. http://www.oilandgasuk.co.uk/cmsfiles/modules/ publications/pdfs/EC030.pdf 60pp

Oil and Gas 2012b. 2012 Decommissioning Insight. http://www.oilandgasuk.co.uk/cmsfiles/modules/publications/pdfs/OP073.pdf 27pp

Saunders, J., Tinch, R., Ozdemiroglu, E. & Hull, S., 2011. Valuing the Marine Estate and UK Seas: Dynamic Baseline Assessment (draft). Marine Estate Research Report for The Crown Estate.