Abstract
The largest contributor to operational emissions from upstream oil and gas operations is power generation from gas turbines (contributing 13.2M tonnes of CO2 and 67.5% of offshore emissions in 2018).
To meet global climate targets, it is critical that the oil and gas industry address the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from its operations.
Given that production facilities built today may operate for 20-30 years, they must be future-proofed for ongoing operation; in this timeframe, industries, governments and countries have committed to significant reductions in emissions. If facilities are not designed with green power in mind, there is a risk that carbon pricing may cause projects to become uneconomic before their planned end-of-life - an expensive folly.
To meet GHG emission targets and de-risk projects it is essential that operators design, and construct facilities powered by green sources. This will future-proof their operations, ensuring that operators are active participants in a carbon neutral future. This is a tenet for survival in a world with pressure to decarbonise from shareholders, financial institutions and society itself. This paper presents a pathway to a green powered facility, identifying the associated opportunities and challenges.
A Decision Quality framework was used to identify methods for achieving green powered facilities including:
Power import from green sources (onshore and offshore) Green Power Purchase Agreements Renewable microgrids Integration with hydrogen networks Facility demanning to reduce power demand Engineered offsetting methods (excluding nature-based offsetting) Digital Transformation of design and operations - remote operation and monitoring.
Design concepts were created to test solutions to removing gas turbines from offshore facilities. Traditional approaches to facility design were challenged at every level and an optimal, green-powered design was identified based on the above assessments integrating the latest techniques and technology. The study team determined the potential limits to offshore electrification and identified solutions to the typical barriers found in these types of project.
This paper demonstrates that a 75% reduction in emissions is achievable with current technology, in a grid with a high renewables component. The opportunities and challenges of net-zero power generation are presented, and a hierarchy of technologies show those which have the biggest impact. This will allow operators to make decisions on areas that present the biggest targets for power generation emissions reduction. The methodology can be adapted to any geographical region, considering available local infrastructure.
With grid-connected systems, as the grid decarbonises, so too will the offshore operations. The approach presented can be applied across many industries; long lifespan, capital intensive projects with large GHG footprints are particularly vulnerable to carbon taxes. These projects have much to gain from adopting green power generation early in system design.
Structural Behavior of Large-Diameter Cylindrical Shell with Stiffened Opening
