With passion on both sides of the referendum debate, it is not surprising that there were last minute attempts to influence the outcome and strong words after the result to ensure that the UK government keeps to its promises on the devolution of more powers and the significance of the oil and gas sector.
Two days before the vote, online recruitment agency www.oilandgaspeople.com attempted to boost the economic basis for independence with a report which suggested that that remaining reserves of oil and gas in Scottish waters could be bigger than suggested during various debates.
It collated data from the British Geological Survey, DECC, various UK sector operators, the Institute of Petroleum Engineering (IPE) and the Energy Institute. The conclusion is that there is potentially additional reserves to be found in Scottish ‘firths’, i.e. river estuaries.
Some of these possible reserves have been off limits as they are near British naval installations, but likely also near important wildlife areas.
Once all of the votes were in, lots of folk lined up to give their opinions on what’s next.
The Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce which surveyed the oil sector in the summer and found that 45% of the companies had investment and business plans affected by the vote. The same companies will be asked, post-referendum, if the result had an impact of future plans. What was clear was that the referendum had created uncertainty in the sector which had an impact on planning.
Scottish accountancy Johnston Carmichael stuck its head above the parapet and called for implementation of the recommendations of the Wood review which essentially called for a plan to maximise recovery of resources in the sector.
Of course, unless the UK authorities are going to legislate and give more powers to the new regulatory body, the Oil & Gas Authority, this task will be near impossible.
UK regulations are not even as stringent as those across the median line in Norway where a high level of recovery of reserves is seen as a national issue. Can the government require licencees to spend money to boost the recovery rate of fields? Tough call.
And how does the industry unlock those additional barrels of oil? With EOR technology.
The Centre for EOR, part of Heriot-Watt University’s IPE, has been going for 17 years and says it is on the verge of making some significant breakthroughs.
These include a variety of techniques including low-salinity water injection and new gas injection technologies.
With all due respect, much work has already been done and is in operation in Norway. It is hoped that this not another example of reinventing the wheel.
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