Sunday 22 April 2007

UKOOA Hosts 70 in Brussels Parliament Debate

UKOOA Chief Executive, Malcolm Webb, on Wednesday, 28 March hosted a dinner-debate in the Brussels European Parliament on the subject of "Europes Indigenous Oil & Gas: its contribution to security of supply; its challenges".  Also appearing on the UKOOA platform were senior executives from the Norwegian, Dutch and Danish oil and gas industries, as well as the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (OGP). 

John Purvis, Member of the European Parliament representing Scotland, co-hosted the debate to highlight to his European Parliament and Commission colleagues that Europe is the fourth largest oil and gas producing region in the world a fact not properly recognised in the current EU energy debate. 

During a lively discussion involving around 70 European policy and energy industry stakeholders, the dominant theme was the importance of regulation which supported the activities of Europes oil and gas producers from the UK, Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Germany and Italy. 

Also debated were climate change, notably the prospects for carbon capture and storage in the UK seabed, security of European gas supply, the European gas market, gas storage in offshore UK, decommissioning and issues relating to the oil and gas industrys environmental, health and safety performance. 

John Purvis MEP said:  "Security of energy supply is a top priority for Governments and the European Union. The question is: should we care about the challenges of Europe's indigenous oil and gas producers?  I think its obvious that we should, and given Scotland's pre-eminence in oil and gas I was keen to co-host with UKOOA this important debate in Brussels.  Governments and the EU should recognise the challenges faced by European oil and gas producers and ensure the environment, especially the taxation environment, is one which will optimise the necessary investment and output."

Malcolm Webb said: "Europe has significant volumes of indigenous oil and gas reserves to recover but faces increasing economic, environmental and technological challenges.  Every barrel that is not produced pays no tax, creates no jobs, nor contributes overall to Europe's economy.  Furthermore, that barrel will have to be imported from sources outside Europe as demand is not anticipated to slacken in the near future.  It is therefore vital that politicians across Europe recognise these facts and ensure they do all they can to help sustained investment in exploration for and the production of new oil and gas developments, including our own in the UK."

 

Note to Editors

• The UK Offshore Operators Association (UKOOA) is the representative organisation for companies licensed by the Government to explore for and produce hydrocarbons in UK waters.
•  Also on the panel at the UKOOA Brussels Dinner-Debate, March 28^th 2007:

  Runar Tjersland, Director of Corporate Strategy, Statoil

  Bram van Mannekes, Secretary General, Netherlands Oil & Gas Exploration & Producers Association (NOGEPA)

  Anders Würtzen, Senior Vice President, Maersk Group

  Beate Raabe, EU Affairs Director, International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (OGP)

• European indigenous production compared to total consumption 2006: Gas:  1.8bn. boe         (= 60% of Total Gas consumed of 3.0bn. boe)

  Oil:    1.9bn. boe         (= 35% of Total Oil consumed of 5.4bn. boe) (Source: BP Statistical Review 2006)

• Europes estimated remaining indigenous oil and gas reserves is up to 100 billion boe, which could support activity for about another 30 years (at current production rates).

  (Source: IEA Word Energy Outlook 2006)

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