Good news12 Jan 2022 09:56
home heating, industry and transport) plus power generation with post combustion carbon
capture and storage. This vision of gas as a source of blue hydrogen is also shared by the
government in the ‘hydrogen economy’ papers issued last year.
UKOG’s evidence given at last August’s planning inquiry also stated that gas from the Loxley
deposit was earmarked as a feedstock for the production of blue hydrogen, fully in line with
the Government’s ‘hydrogen economy’ and the CCC’s future use expectations. If the UK is
committed to a post COP26 hydrogen economy, then surely indigenous blue hydrogen
feedstock sources such as Loxley merit drilling, provided that they comply with necessary
planning requirements and other regulations?
Interestingly, in his recent CAPX article, John Redwood MP, your backbench colleague,
recognises the higher CO2 footprint of imported gas and that it effectively lands in the UK
‘carbon free’ due to the perversity of the carbon accounting rules. He supports the concept
of prioritising UK gas production both to reduce our CO2 footprint and dependence upon
imported gas.
If you take the view that onshore gas drilling will ‘industrialise the countryside’, a view
contrary to the findings of Surrey County Council’s professional planning and highways
officers regarding the Loxley application, then how do you reconcile the fact that the energy
produced from a 2-hectare onshore gas site would typically require a wind farm 750 times
the size. In terms of maximising energy production per square km, Dunsfold represents one
of the best local opportunities for UK energy production. The energy from such gas is also
24/7 irrespective of the weather for the life of the field.
The Energy Minister, Greg Hands MP, said in the House of Commons that ‘we will always
prefer British gas production to foreign imports’. If this statement truly reflects the
Government’s and your party’s regulatory position, then given that such gas offers a lower
carbon footprint and essential feedstock to the new hydrogen economy, why should the oil
and gas resources directly under our feet, including Loxley, not be drilled for and developed?
Our ask is that you consider these facts and take an objective view as to the merits of
developing such key resources that can play a demonstrable part in the UK’s post COP26 net
zero ambitions and energy mix whilst protecting our balance of payments.
I would be very pleased to discuss these matters with you in more detail.
Yours,
Charles McAllister
Policy Manager
United Kingdom Onshore Oil and Gas (UKOOG)
Sign In
Follow the stocks
