The North Sea Transition Authority (NTSA) has warned North Sea oil and gas operators that they could fail to meet their commitments to slash emissions if further pollution-cutting measures are not adopted.

In a new review, the NTSA, which regulates the oil and gas, offshore hydrogen and carbon industries, cites slowness to decommission wells due for abandonment amongst other criticisms. These include an 11% decline in UK Continental Shelf production, aggravated by unplanned outages, and a 1% decrease in production efficiency. The latter is a key indicator of the effectiveness of asset use by operators.

According to the NTSA review, North Sea oil and gas operators could invest as much as £3 billion on projects designed to cut 32m tonnes from total CO₂ emissions. Such projects include using low carbon power on platforms and eliminating routine flaring and venting. To date, fewer than half of these projects have been given the go ahead.