ANNUAL REVIEW

2020 was an especially tough year for the UK's world-class oil and gas supply chain.

The impact of COVID-19, oil price volatility and ongoing legislative changes as a result of Brexit added to the already significant pressure on the UK's supply chain and OGUK members.

In response, OGUK's Supply Chain and Operations team continued to encourage industry to do business in a sustainable way to protect the fragile sector. This includes promoting collaboration and finding innovative ways of working that deliver value for both sides, ensuring that industry has the skills and resources needed when activity rebounds, as well as using the Supply Chain Principles as a mechanism to improve behaviours. Central to this was the team's development of a ‘COVID-19 Principles of Cooperation’ document, intended to provide governance and support to trade and commerce during the period of the pandemic.

Pre-COVID, the team prepared and presented to OGUK Board a ‘Sector Analysis Report’ for the Helicopter Service Providers.

Additionally, during 2020, Supply Chain led the initiative to ‘Optimise UKCS Resource Utilisation’ seeking to preserve as many jobs as possible and retain skills in the industry by raising the visibility of planned maintenance activity to the whole supply chain.

Brexit

OGUK continued the work of the Brexit Contingency Council, through five dedicated sub-groups, addressing:

(1). Chemical Supply & Control
(2). UK Border Operating Model
(3). Risk Assessment
(4). Vendor Preparedness
(5). Legal Risk Mitigation

OGUK engaged directly with BEIS to highlight key Brexit-related risks and challenges with a clear focus on those which require resolution before the end of the transition period.

The team also established a dedicated Brexit hub on the OGUK website to assist members with questions around the impact of Brexit on day-to-day operations. The Hub hosted key documents for the benefit of industry developed by the respective Sub-Groups, including legal guidelines and technical notes on areas such as chemical supply, vendor preparedness and the Border Operating Model.

In parallel, via the Contingency Council, a series of popular Supply Chain Spotlight Sessions were conducted on-line for OGUK members, addressing chemical supply & control (with input from DEFRA), post-Brexit transition immigration and employment, and the Border Operating Model (with input from HMRC).

SME Forum

2020 saw the launch of OGUK’s SME forum. Since its creation in August, it has grown to to include almost 100 attendees. The Forum have created a prioritised list of key challenges facing the community and OGUK is working with other industry bodies to address them.

Led by OGUK continuous improvement manager Emily Taylor, it includes representation from Scottish Enterprise, ONE, Skills Development Scotland, BEIS and Scottish Government, all of whom are looking to the forum as a platform to engage with the SME community.

Building on forum feedback, the first SME webinar was focused on best practices with tendering and contracts and the following forum was themed on Brexit – focusing on SME specific needs. Webinars planned for 2021 include Energy Transition, decommissioning, and Diversity and Inclusion, and will tie in existing work across industry highlighting opportunities for SME involve

In partnership with Deloitte, the team also supported the publication of the UKCS upstream supply chain collaboration survey, and the corresponding 2020 Collaboration Report .

Deloitte and OGUK’s industry-wide Collaboration Index (CI), which measures the effectiveness of companies as partners in projects, showed a slight increase to 7.1 in 2020, up from 7.0 in 2019, highlighting the flexibility and support the supply chain showed during an exceptionally challenging year.

On top of this, collaboration success rates hit a record high in 2020 with more than 50 per cent of survey respondents saying over half of their efforts were successful. In what also marked a first in the survey’s six-year history, the overall proportion of ‘successful’ efforts was higher than ‘unsuccessful’ ones.

Between the Energy Transition and a global pandemic, 2020 saw many changes and challenges in the employment landscape.

Workforce Engagement & Skills Manager Alix Thom held several webinars to clarify the details of furlough criteria and business requirements in April. In response to requests for information on transferable skills in the energy sector, OGUK also held a webinar exploring how to map skill sets from current energy roles into new ones that will meet the needs of the energy transition in the UK. Another webinar series ran throughout the year focusing on Young Professionals to focus on their involvement in the industry.

In addition, OGUK supported development of the new Energy Services Agreement, becoming responsible for the former Offshore Contractors' Association (OCA) as of January 2021.

From COVID-19 to Brexit, 2020 was varied and demanding for our Health, Safety, and Environment team, who co-ordinated much of the organisation's response to COVID-19 on behalf of members.

OGUK formed the Pandemic Steering Group, which met more than 30 times over the course of the year, as well as several subsidiary working groups. These groups helped publish COVID testing and safe working guidelines, alongside five health advice Technical Notes, an aviation Technical Note and five covid-related memorandums.

OGUK held 14 COVID Council meetings between March and September, with an average attendance of 105 personnel. We rallied to support members with virtual meetings, the convening of a Pandemic Steering Group, bi-weekly online council meetings, and the creation and updating of safety and operating guidelines.

The group supported and led the immediate industry response to the crisis, ensuring the risk of offshore transmission of COVID-19 was minimised, that helicopter transport for personnel and suspected COVID-19 cases was maintained, existing health, safety and environmental risks were managed, and the movement of essential personnel and equipment was maintained, even during the strictest phase of lockdown.

OGUK led the industry in championing safety for offshore essential workers, establishing a COVID-19 hub on the OGUK website, allowing members continuous access to the rapidly changing safety protocols. The OGUK HSE Team, led by Director Trevor Stapleton, was instrumental in organising procedures for Key Workers in the oil and gas sector to travel offshore and to work in controlled conditions.

The team also ensured that existing workstreams continued, and used online working to continue hosting our technical and task finish group meetings. These groups enabled the sharing of good practice and experience between our members, and delivered, amongst other items, the Assurance and Verification Guidelines supporting hydrocarbon release reduction, a new OPITO Helideck Refuelling Competence Standard, and an update to the Financial Responsibility Guidelines.

In support of ongoing industry activity to manage environmental performance, OGUK environment groups supported the Wells Forum in addressing operator involvement in managing long-term oil spill incidents, and worked to progress the Shoreline Response Plan project. We have also been working alongside our Sustainability team to deliver reduction in operational emissions as part of the drive to net zero and the energy transition.

Environmental specialists formed a Brexit Subgroup, led by Supply Chain Manager John McColl, to focus on chemical regulatory requirements following EU exit. OGUK also worked with our member Advisian on a study to prove the results of equivalency of results with a handheld monitor, enabling a new approach to emissions monitoring which will drive efficiency and improved understanding of stack emissions in future.

The OGUK HSE team continued to facilitate engagement with regulators in 2020, including ongoing liaison with HSE on hydrocarbon release prevention, maintenance backlogs, and the embedding of Principles of Process Safety Leadership; in sessions with OPRED on the next phase of Risk-Based Assessment for produced water management; and with SEPA on the move to the Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations for managing radioactive susbtances on offshore installations.

The team also co-ordinated the industry response to 18 public consultations across a range of HSE topics, and published a combined Health, Safety & Environment Report, collating data for 2019.

In 2020 the Finance and Corporate Services team oversaw a successful move of the London office from Victoria to our new home at Paternoster House, opposite St Paul's Cathedral.

The new office space provides a completely bespoke working environment that has been designed for our needs and those of our members, with dedicated working spaces so members can come to the offices and benefit from OGUK facilities if in-between meetings in the city or other times when it may be of benefit.

Despite the disruption of the COVID pandemic, the Aberdeen office fit out was also completed and mirrors the same innovations and approach to those in London. Here too, improved member facilities and high-quality technical infrastructure are the order of the day so that we are well equipped for our organisational needs in the future.

The Finance and Corporate Services teams have ensured that all staff are well supported to work flexibly and effectively from home.

Thanks to the support of the IT and Business Services teams, the seamless move to remote working has also enabled many OGUK forums and workgroups to be run virtually, allowing participation from members who may have otherwise been unable to attend physical meetings and events. OGUK hopes to continue to support this inclusivity through Teams and other systems even as we return to safe in-person meetings.

OGUK London Office:
1st Floor, Paternoster House, 65 St Paul’s Churchyard, London EC4M 8AB

OGUK Aberdeen Office:
4th Floor, Annan House, 33-35 Palmerston Road, Aberdeen, AB11 5QP

OGUK continued its mission to inform industry, stakeholders and the wider public in 2020.

Our Market Intelligence team expanded its coverage last year in response to the changing environment of oil prices, market sentiment and energy demand outlooks.

Industry Reports and Market Intelligence

The reports through 2020 have taken on new formats due to the rapidly changing nature of data, content, and importantly context, for our industry.

OGUK published nine flagship reports in 2020, including:

4 Business Outlook reports
Economic Report
Decommissioning Insight
Health, Safety & Environment Report
Pathway to a Net-Zero Basin: Production Emissions Targets
Workforce Insight

A significant shift was also felt by our Events team as all physical events moved online. This has worked particularly well with a host of topic-specific webinars, the OGUK Awards (live streamed via social media for the very first time) and the Decommissioning Conference, which featured a fully immersive, interactive online platform with 3D exhibition spaces and environments.

The Stakeholder Engagement project was developed during 2020, with much progress being made with initial pilot campaigns. These have provided promising results and pave the way for a scale-up through 2021.

Perhaps more than any other period in recent years, a cohesive industry response to COVID-19 necessitated clear communications and guidance to members, stakeholders and the media. OGUK's Communications Team led 10 COVID-19 media briefings between March-July, ensuring journalists remained informed of the latest guidance and strategy directly from OGUK HSE Director Trevor Stapleton.

Communications in numbers:

786 media queries
5,213 pieces of media coverage
76 Press Releases
151 statements
33 articles

Wireline Magazine

While print circulation was curtailed by the pandemic, production of OGUK's Wireline magazine continued in the form of a digital-only version.

Features this year included coverage of Well-Safe's first dedicated decommissioning rig, the Hydrogen Coast initiative, operational and community responses to COVID-19 across the UK, the future of Kishorn Port, 2020's decommissioning successes - and much more.

Visit the Wireline website to read these, and more.

OGUK's Membership team is here to champion the sector and inform, engage and advocate the needs of over 400 member companies to key stakeholders.

Weekly updates from our new COVID hub area of the website provided our members with practical information and guidance.

Members were also supported throughout the Brexit transition period with practical guidance and workshops.

Member retention has been high through 2020, a positive reinforcement of the value OGUK continues to deliver for companies during testing times.

From championing case studies to supporting engagement with politicians the Membership team is here to help you get the most from OGUK.

Membership overview for 2020:

• 420 members
• 91% satisfaction rate
• 58 new members
• 40 case studies published

External Affairs

Despite the widespread move towards remote working, OGUK’s External Affairs team maintained a steady stream of engagements with political and regulatory stakeholders throughout 2020.

The team engaged with 70 MPs - including meetings with the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and the Industrial Strategy, the UK Energy Minister, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Scotland, Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Scottish Energy Minister – as well as members of the opposition and 20 Peers. Meetings of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Offshore Oil and Gas also continued virtually through the year.

This effort was mirrored in Holyrood, where the team engaged with over 30 MSPs including the First Minister, Minister for Energy, Connectivity and the Islands and the Leader of the Opposition, while the Cross-Party Group (CPG) on oil and gas also met virtually throughout the year.

The team assisted OGUK policy managers in responding to government consultations, as well as liaising with other external stakeholders such as trade unions, the US Embassy, universities and NGOs.