UK plans autumn licensing round

The country also aims to speed project development as it outlines new energy security strategy

The UK’s North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) upstream regulator will launch another licensing round in the autumn—which will take into account the country’s forthcoming climate compatibility checkpoint for new oil and gas developments—as it puts continuing exploitation of domestic hydrocarbons resources as a central point of a new energy security strategy. “This will mean more domestic gas on the grid sooner,” the government says. And it is also looking at fast-tracking new production through the creation of gas and oil new project regulatory accelerators, which will aim to provide dedicated, named project support to facilitate more rapid development of new fields. These “could take years