Neptune Energy has called on the UK government to support changes to the country’s gas entry specifications in order to deliver more domestic gas to households and businesses in 2023. Revising the specification could unlock enough gas to heat more than 12 million UK homes for a whole year.
A five-year industry-wide consultation is now ending. No safety issues were detected in the initial impact assessments completed by the health and safety executive.
The consultations include proposals to reduce the calorific content limit for gas entering the network and enable higher volumes to be supplied. Both these aims are supported by the industry but must be backed by the government to ensure the UK benefits from increased energy security.
Implementing the specification change quickly would support the British Energy Security Strategy’s stated goal of regulatory acceleration and streamlined licensing to boost domestic, low-carbon gas production.
Neptune currently operates around 12% of the UK’s gas supply and is doubling gas production from the Duva fielding in Norway, by 6,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day. The increased production will be enough to heat a further 550,000 UK homes per day.
Drilling is also taking place on the 10th well at the Neptune-operated Cygnus gas field in the UK southern North Sea. When online at the end of November, the Cygnus facility will produce enough gas to heat around two million UK homes.
In addition, earlier this week Neptune Energy and its license partners announced that hydrocarbons had been encountered in the Calypso exploration well in the Norwegian sea, located within the Neptune-operated PL938 licence.
Logs have proved the presence of hydrocarbons and additional data gathering of the reservoir is now being considered.
The operations in the reservoir section remain at an early stage and it has yet to be confirmed if commercial volumes are present.
