The Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas Decarbonisation plan (INTOG) aims to facilitate innovative projects, and projects aimed at decarbonising the oil and gas sector in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has appointed ABPmer to support the production of an offshore wind plan to facilitate innovation projects and the decarbonisation of the oil and gas industry.

The plan follows the adoption of the Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind Energy in October 2020 which contained Scottish Ministers ‘Plan Options’ for commercial scale offshore renewable energy. These Plan Options are the basis for the current ScotWind leasing round. 

The objective of this next plan is to facilitate innovative projects, and projects aimed at decarbonising the oil and gas sector in Scotland (known as Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas Decarbonisation (INTOG)). 

To ensure consistency and account for developing projects and research, INTOG will be following the Scottish Government’s well-established system of sectoral marine planning.

ABPmer will be working closely with the Scottish Government and key stakeholders to scope and assess Plan Options, complete a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), Habitats Regulations Appraisal (HRA) and socio-economic impact assessment (SEIA) as well as facilitating the statutory consultation process.

Stephen Hull, Business Manager at ABPmer, said

“Having worked closely with the Scottish Government to produce the Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind Energy, we are delighted to be invited to provide similar support for INTOG. This will help to accelerate Scotland’s progress towards Net Zero.”

The Scottish Government has set a range of targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions and to generate more energy from renewable sources. The Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019 commits the Scottish Government to reach net zero emissions of all greenhouse gases by 2045. 

This work will be progressed with Marine Scotland, the Directorate of the Scottish Government responsible for the integrated management of Scotland’s seas. For more information about INTOG, please visit the Marine Scotland Information website.

ABPmer is a recognised thought leader in marine planning, with extensive experience of strategic and sectoral planning. We are regularly called to support national planning processes across the UK, Ireland and internationally, and undertake applied research studies to support implementation.