Revealed: Majority of North Sea oil firms will not invest in clean energy before 2030

Campaigners have warned that the findings shows the industry’s insistence that it is part of the transition to clean energy is “fiction” amid concerns that investment in fossil fuels will continue, despite the climate crisis.

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The new Labour UK government has pledged to end new North Sea oil and gas licences while the Scottish Government’s updated position will be set out in its delayed energy strategy.

The analysis from Uplift found that only seven out of 87 offshore oil and gas companies have plans to spend anything on renewable energy by 2030 - casting doubt over the industry’s claim to be driving the energy transition.

Uplift has claimed its analysis shows the lack of renewable investment is a longstanding issue rather than down to external factors such as changes to the oil and gas tax regime. The research found that since 2015, just six offshore oil and gas companies have invested anything in UK renewable energy projects.

By 2030, it is predicted that renewable energy will account for almost two thirds of investment in the UK’s energy transition, but oil and gas operators will account for just 10 per cent of this spending.

The 2021 North Sea Transition Deal between the UK government and the oil and gas industry, promised to “unlock the UK’s net zero ambition, delivering part of a fair and equitable energy transition” through low-carbon technology including hydrogen and carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS).

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But according to the analysis, just 13 per cent of North Sea oil and gas producers intend to invest in any low carbon technologies such as renewables, hydrogen or CCUS.

Tessa Khan, executive director at Uplift said the North Sea industry was “clearly failing to deliver on its promises”.

She added: “The overwhelming majority of North Sea operators have no intention of investing in clean energy and are solely interested in profiting from oil and gas for as long as the North Sea’s dwindling reserves allow.

“Yet the industry continues to position itself as a major partner in the UK’s energy transition – a fiction that, to this point, has allowed it to play a pivotal role in determining the shape and pace of the North Sea’s transition.”

Ms Khan stressed that the UK government “urgently needs to take responsibility for managing the North Sea’s future out of the hands of an industry”, calling on ministers to “come up with a genuine transition plan that has the needs of supply chain businesses, workers and their communities at its core”.

Michael Tholen, policy and sustainability director, Offshore Energies UK, claimed the research “takes a narrow snapshot and misses the bigger picture”.

He added: “Companies operating in the North Sea are actively engaged in delivery of the energy transition as well as seeking to meet the energy needs of the UK today.

“These investments are on the go now and will take time to come into operation. Taxing existing oil and gas operations yet harder over the next five years with the proposed intensified windfall tax diverts capital that could be better invested to accelerate the transition.”