Britain: An official handbook > 1993

ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES
In 1991 the EEO launched a three-year,
£10 million, advertising and publicity
campaign, called ‘Helping the Earth Begins at
Home’, to improve understanding of the
greenhouse effect and the impact of domestic
energy use on the environment.
The EEO has also launched a promotional
campaign, ‘Making a Corporate
Commitment’, aimed at directors. It is
designed to motivate industrial, commercial
and public sector organisations to make a
corporate commitment to responsible energy
management.
The Government’s Energy Efficiency
Demonstration Programme funds over 70
schemes to improve energy efficiency and
reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from
council houses in England. Some £50 million
is available in 1992-93.
In 1992 the Government, British Gas and
the regional electricity companies in England
and Wales agreed to establish an Energy
Saving Trust to develop programmes to
promote the efficient use of energy.
Britain has been working with its
European Community partners on the
development of effective legislative measures
on appliance labelling. A framework directive
for mandatory energy labelling of domestic
appliances has been agreed. Until the first
labels appear, the EEO and regional
electricity companies have developed an
interim voluntary scheme to put energy
efficiency labels on appliances, starting with
fridges and freezers, sold in the companies’
1,100 showrooms throughout Great Britain.
A standard assessment procedure for
comparing home energy labels produced by
different schemes, designed by the Building
Research Establishment, has been launched—
to be used in the National Energy Founda¬
tion and MVM Starpoint schemes. A home
energy labelling certificate tells a householder
how energy efficient his or her house is and
generally contains advice about cost-effective
measures which can be taken to improve a
property’s energy efficiency and cut fuel bills.
OIL AND GAS
Britain’s energy position is strengthened by
substantial oil and gas reserves offshore on
the United Kingdom Continental Shelf
(UKCS). The trend in offshore oil and gas
developments is towards the exploitation of
smaller reservoirs, and the advances in
science and technology (for example, seismic
acquisition technology, reservoir
characterisation and subsea production
systems) have made this a more economic
proposition.
The Government has granted exploration
and production licences as a result of 12
offshore licensing rounds since 1964. It
announced two separate offshore licensing
rounds in April 1990: the twelfth round and
the thirteenth (frontier) round. In May 1991,
74 twelfth round awards were announced,
covering 107 blocks. The thirteenth (frontier)
round awards were announced in May 1991;
six awards were made covering 66 blocks.
The thirteenth round was aimed at
promoting exploration of deep water areas
north and west of Scotland. By the end of
1991, 4,846 wells had been or were being
drilled in the UKCS: 2,198 development
wells, 1,660 exploration wells and 988
appraisal wells.
In the fourteenth round, announced in
March 1992, licensed acreage on offer will
include remaining acreage in the main mature
areas of the northern, central and southern
North Sea; more speculative acreage on the
margins of the main mature areas; and true
frontier acreage, where any finds will take a
long time to prove.
Offshore Supplies
The Offshore Supplies Office (OSO) of the
Department of Trade and Industry aims to
promote fair commercial opportunity in all oil
and gas markets, to support development of
the latest technologies and to foster British
exports.
In 1991 the total value of orders reported
by operators for oil and gas development
work on the UKCS was £6,079 million, close
to the 1990 figure of £6,186 million, the
highest ever. The British share in 1991 was
£4,734 million (78 per cent). The total value
of orders placed in 1991 for goods and
services in support of onshore activity was
£38-5 million.
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