Continuing North Sea oil and gas extraction will cost the UK more than building a fully decarbonised electricity grid, according to new analysis comparing long-term offshore drilling expenditure with system-wide renewables and grid upgrade investment. RenewableUK chief executive Dan McGrail nonetheless calls for a balanced approach, arguing that offshore wind, grid-scale storage and interconnectors must grow alongside a managed decline in North Sea production. For civil and grid engineers, the findings point to major capital reallocation towards transmission reinforcement, subsea cabling and flexible generation assets rather than new offshore hydrocarbon infrastructure.

Scotland is being urged by the Association for Consultancy and Engineering to adopt a long-term “Infrastructure 2050” strategy to speed up project delivery, attract private finance and tackle a widening engineering skills gap ahead of the next Holyrood election. Ace wants a clear pipeline for major assets such as transport corridors, energy networks and water infrastructure to give contractors and designers confidence to invest in capacity and digital delivery tools. For geotechnical and civil firms, a stable 25-year framework would shape ground investigation demand, risk allocation and procurement models across Scottish projects.

Santos has launched the first stage of a “first-of-its-kind” agreement in the Cooper Basin that gives Traditional Owners formal responsibility to manage Country across its oil and gas tenements. The program establishes a Traditional Owner–led land management framework alongside Santos’ existing exploration and production activities, rather than relying solely on company-run heritage surveys. For mining and energy operators, this signals a shift towards co-designed access, monitoring and rehabilitation regimes that may materially affect project approvals, fieldwork scheduling and long-term closure planning in similar onshore basins.