The UK’s National Oceanography Centre (NOC) has kicked off research on end-of-life oil fields in the North Sea using the robot submarine Boaty McBoatface with the aim of helping monitor and protect the marine environment and support industry transition towards net-zero targets.

Finnish oil refining and marketing company Neste has launched a strategic study on transitioning its refinery in Porvoo to non-crude oil refining and renewable and circular solutions site in addition to looking into opportunities for green hydrogen at the refinery.Finnish oil refining and marketing company Neste has launched a strategic study on transitioning its refinery in Porvoo to non-crude oil refining and renewable and circular solutions site in addition to looking into opportunities for green hydrogen at the refinery.

As Liz Truss is poised to take over the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister (PM) role, the UK’s representative body for the offshore energy industry, Offshore Energies UK (OEUK), believes this to be an opportunity to push the transition to low-carbon and clean energy forward by bolstering domestic oil and gas production with long-term investment to strengthen energy security, which the incoming PM announced as a top priority.

Oil major Shell has taken a final investment decision (FID) to develop the Rosmari-Marjoram gas project located offshore Sarawak, Malaysia with expectations to reach the first gas in 2026.

The EuroAsia Interconnector electricity link, connecting Israel, Cyprus and Greece, will help reduce the European Union’s energy dependence on Russia, according to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.

The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) has launched the UK’s first-ever carbon storage licencing round, with 13 areas available for bids.  

Sweden is banning the extraction of coal, oil and natural gas and tightening rules on the extraction from alum shale. The ban is entering into force on 1 July this year.

The G7 countries, representing the world’s biggest economies, pledged last Friday to end direct international public financing of the fossil fuels sector starting from the end of this year and affirmed the commitment to end inefficient fossil fuel subsidies by 2025.

Norwegian transportation services providers Lovund Skyss and Sjøtind have both entered into agreements with energy company Gen2 Energy to develop solutions that will enable the use of hydrogen as a fuel for their ferries operating in Nordland, an area of Norway where ferry connections are an important part of the infrastructure.

UK Oil & Gas (UKOG) is working on the Portland Energy-Hub concept centered around hydrogen-ready gas storage and a future green hydrogen generation capability.