Scotland National Strategy for Economic Transformation: industry leadership groups and sector groups - evidence

13. Oil and Gas Industry Leadership Group

Industry Aspirations to 2030

Industry targets include:

• investing £21 billion over the next 5 years.
• directing £14-16 billion into driving investment into decarbonisation by 2030.
• to create 40,000 additional jobs by decarbonisation spend.

Industry Opportunities

The industry sees opportunities in accelerating energy transition, reducing UK emissions, and creating new jobs across the UK, while meeting as much of the domestic demand for oil and gas as possible.

Industry Challenges

Key challenges to the industry include:

• import demands. In the first few months of 2021, the UK imported more gas than any other year as demand rose. The Oil and Gas United Kingdom (OGUK) Economic Report 2021 shows how cutting off the domestic production of oil and gas faster than demand risks leaving the UK increasingly dependent on other countries.
• inconsistent support. Withdrawing support for ongoing oil and gas activities jeopardises the sector’s ability to be the backbone for the energy transition by shaking investor confidence, precipitating early decommissioning and supply chain flight from the basin.

Ongoing and Planned Activity for Industry

The industry’s key activity is on the North Sea Transitional Deal work on supply chains and Energy Service Agreement work.