Stay off our patch, oil industry tells North Sea wind farm developers

Britain's oil industry has warned of a major clash with offshore wind farm developers after it claimed green energy projects are encroaching on areas licensed for oil exploration in the North Sea.

Oil and Gas UK said offshore wind projects planned for huge swathes of the seas around the UK would conflict with oil companies' plans, claiming that wind farms could disrupt mobile drilling rigs and helicopter flights, and get in the way of under-water equipment and oil pipelines.

In a submission to the UK government - which is holding a consultation to set out how the UK's renewable targets will be met - the industry body hinted that individual companies could be forced to consider legal action in an attempt to defend themselves against the offshore wind sector.

"It would be most unfortunate if individual licensees were forced to resort to legal processes in order to defend the rights granted under their existing petroleum licenses," Oil and Gas UK said in its submission.

Jim Footner, of Greenpeace, warned that the oil industry was threatening to scupper the UK's chance of leading the way in offshore renewable technology.

Scotland has one of the most ambitious renewable energy targets in the world: First Minister Alex Salmond (right) recently announced that as much as 80 per cent of electricity is to be produced from green energy sources by 2020, up from a previous target of 50 per cent.

"There is a definite conflict between oil interests, who are going to ever greater extremes to extract their product, and offshore wind," Mr Footner said.

But WWF Scotland director Richard Dixon (left) said he believed the industries should be able to work together. "The wind farm industry is more important, as the oil industry is on its way out. If anyone is going to sue anyone to ensure their projects go ahead, it should probably be the other way around."

He added: "In general, wind power at sea is well spaced out, so you would have to be a pretty sloppy helicopter pilot to have a problem avoiding turbines.

"Like wind farms on land, which often have cows grazing round the base of them, there isn't a great problem with sharing the sea. The oil industry is always going on about how clever they are at drilling difficult holes, so working around wind farms shouldn't be too much of a challenge."

A spokesman for Scottish Renewables said: "We are working constantly with the oil and gas industry because there are significant opportunities for (it] to diversify into renewables.

Often, it is the same companies working on both."

An Oil and Gas UK spokeswoman said: "As the government continues its consultation into national policy statements on how renewable energy targets will be met, it is important it takes into account all sources of energy production. The important point is to continue building on co-operation between the oil and gas and renewable industries and emulate the level of collaboration we have achieved working with the fishing industry in the North Sea."

Just last week, Oil and Gas UK welcomed the news that 144 new licenses had been awarded to companies wanting to invest in exploration and production - but expressed disappointment that environmental assessments of a further 99 sites had delayed the allocation of more North Sea blocks.

Source:
News Scotsman, "Stay off our patch, oil industry tells North Sea wind farm developers", accessed November 1, 2010