NEWS & INSIGHTS | Opinion
Approval pending for UK’s landmark floating offshore wind hub
Luca Corradi
Luca works to bring “the outside in”, connecting innovators and academics across sectors and disciplines, to explore the latest technologies that could be adopted to address oil and gas industry challenges. Leading The Net Zero Technology Centre’s horizon scanning activity, he identifies emerging technology trends, cutting through the hype to identify potential areas of impact and application. With a background in business and organisational change leadership, Luca has developed a strong network and is passionate about harnessing this to deliver the next generation of the net zero energy industry.
Outside work Luca loves reading, music and travel. He is married with two young daughters and a dog. He enjoys the rare motorbike ride in Scotland and even rarer ski trip on the Alps.
Chief Technology Officer at NZTC, Luca Corradi, and his team closely monitor the global net zero landscape. They follow the trends, policies, investments and technological innovations that, together, bring the world closer to its shared climate goals. Learn more about our horizon scanning service. This week, Luca and his team look at oil and gas reserves and resources, plans for a new floating offshore wind manufacturing facility, and explore storage expansion in Irish Sea.
UK oil and gas reserves report 2024: Production outpaces discoveries amid exploration lull
North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) published its UK oil and gas reserves report 2024, providing a comprehensive assessment of remaining recoverable petroleum resources in the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS). The report reveals critical challenges facing UK offshore oil production as the industry navigates the energy transition.
At the end of 2024, the UKCS held 2.9 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) in Proven and Probable reserves, down 0.4 billion boe from 2023. This decline reflects 401 million boe of production that was not offset by new developments, with only two field development plans approved, contributing less than 50 million boe.
The reserves replacement ratio of -14% underscores a significant challenge: production is significantly outpacing the additions of new reserves. Exploration activity remains historically low, with just four wells drilled in 2024, yielding under 100 million boe.
However, new geological data from the 33rd licencing round in 2022 prompted the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) to revise its estimate of UKCS oil reserves by 1.1 billion boe. As a result prospective resources now 15.8 billion boe, inlcuding:
- 4.6 billion boe in mapped leads and prospects (a 31% from 2023)
- 11.2 billion boe in unmapped plays
Contingent resources – those known but not yet commercially viable – stand at 6.2 billion boe, primarily located in mature, developed areas with some under review for future development. The resource mix remains approximately 70% oil and 30% gas (in oil equivalent terms).
By the end of 2024, cumulative UKCS production reached 47.7 billion boe.
Key challenges include:
- declining reserves without adequate replacement,
- limited exploration activity
- need for substantial investment to mature contingent resources
Distribution of UKCS gas reserves and resources (central case)
Chart source: NSTA
Ming Yang £1.5 Billion Floating Offshore Wind Manufacturing Hub Scotland
China’s Ming Yang Smart Energy has announced plans to invest up to £1.5 billion in a floating offshore wind turbine manufacturing facility at Ardersier Port near Inverness, Scotland. The projects would establish Scotland’s largest offshore wind manufacturing hub, supporting the UK’s 50GW offshore wind target by 2030 and advancing floating wind technology development.
Phase one of the project would see an initial investment of up to £750 million to establish manufacturing capabilities for both wind turbine nacelles and blades, with production expected to begin in late 2028.
However, it is currently awaiting UK Government approval amid ongoing discussions around national security. The Scottish and UK Governments are actively consulting to address relevant security issues, with the First Minister cautioning that rejecting the proposal would hinder Scotland’s renewable sector.
Ming Yang has also unveiled plans for a 50MW floating offshore wind turbine featuring a twin-head design. A 50MW turbine would double the power capacity of the largest floating wind turbines currently in development. The design incorporates two 24.5MW turbines mounted on a V-shaped tower, building on the success of Ming Yang’s 16.6MW Ocean-X platform launched last year.
Mingyang’s existing OceanX platform.
Credit: Mingyang
MESH Energy storage project UK: Hydrogen and compressed air storage expansion in Irish Sea
EnergyPathways has received consent from the North Sea Transition Authority to expand its MESH (Marram Energy Storage Hub) project with new hydrogen and natural gas storage licences in the East Irish Sea. The company plans to submit applications targeting a salt cavern storage area approximately four times larger than previously proposed.
This announcement follows the Ed Miliband’s formal designation of MESH as a development of national significance on 26 September 2025.
The MESH project is a large-scale, long-duration energy storage (LDES) and decarbonisation facility designed to capture excess offshore wind power and store it as compressed air in offshore salt caverns. The integrated system will deliver low-carbon flexible power, produce hydrogen using proprietary methane pyrolysis technology and generate graphite as a by-product. The facility is expected to be operational by 2030 and will supply low carbon energy to the UK market for over 25 years.
If approved, the expanded licences will significantly increase salt cavern storage capacity, transforming MESH into one of the UK’s largest integrated energy storage and decarbonisation hubs. The project is backed by partners including Siemens Energy, Hazer Group, Wood, and Costain.
MESH Project
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