Environment, Social and Governance
KCA Deutag to electrify Equinor’s Askepott jackup
KCA Deutag is set to carry out a major project to electrify Equinor’s jackup rig, Askepott, in Norway. The electrification project, which will be delivered by KCA Deutag’s Kenera business unit, will make the Askepott rig the first in Equinor’s portfolio to be powered from onshore when it is completed in Q4 2024.
Askepott will receive power from high-voltage cabling via the Martin Linge A platform. The platform is already supplied with power from shore through the world’s longest alternating current cable and is located 42 km west of the Oseberg Field on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS).
Based on previous records and predicted calculations, it is anticipated the project will result in a reduction of 20,000 tons of CO2 per year compared with running with traditional diesel generators.
As a key part of the project, Kenera will convert the existing mud treatment room on Askepott to an electrical power room and install transformers, variable frequency drives and high-voltage switch boards certified to DNV classification requirements.
Kenera will provide a turnkey solution, including initial procurement, detailed engineering and installation and commissioning, before handing the project over to Equinor and KCA Deutag’s team in Norway for the day-to-day operations onboard Askepott.
In a previous energy optimization project, Kenera had deployed CO2 and nitrogen oxides reduction technologies on the Askepott rig, as well as Equinor’s Askeladden rig.
Apache lends support to well pad restoration research in Permian Basin
Apache Corp is partnering with the Borderlands Research Institute (BRI) at Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas, to launch a well pad restoration research project. Researchers at BRI and Texas Native Seeds, a project of the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute at Texas A&M Kingsville, will investigate methods to improve habitat restoration efforts in the Permian Basin. The goal is to publish a science-backed, best practices reclamation document to be shared with other Permian operators.
The project will explore how changes in the industry’s collective approach to restoring end-of-service well pads can have broader benefits to local biodiversity and reunite fragmented habitats.
Typically, at the end of a well’s service life, the well is plugged and the pad is reseeded and allowed to gradually return to a natural condition. This project looks to accelerate a more vibrant return to nature by considering alternative soil preparation techniques, adding biochar to improve soil fertility, and incorporating undesirable scrub brush as a vegetative cover to hold soil moisture and discourage grassland animals from foraging on the seeds before they germinate.
Additionally, the project will measure increases in soil carbon to passively sequester CO2 in healthy desert soils and will support Sul Ross State University student research through BRI.
ADNOC, Santos to explore global CCS platform
ADNOC and Santos have signed a strategic collaboration agreement (SCA) that outlines a pathway toward the potential development of a joint global carbon management platform that could support the decarbonization journey of customers throughout the Asia Pacific.
Additionally, the SCA encompasses the advancement of critical carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies and the exploration of a CO2 shipping and transportation infrastructure network to enable heavy-emitting sectors capture, ship and permanently store CO2.
Northern Lights collaboration targets CCS digitalization
SLB and the Northern Lights Joint Venture have signed an agreement to work with Microsoft to optimize integrated cloud-based workflows for Northern Lights operations. The collaboration aims to contribute to the development of scalable and cost-efficient digital solutions for the emerging carbon capture and storage (CCS) industry.
In the initial phases, SLB will extend the digital CCS workflows and numerical simulation systems on its Delfi digital platform, which was deployed to streamline the subsurface workflows of Northern Lights in 2022.
Microsoft will deploy and extend its Azure platform to ensure scalable cloud services that support Northern Lights’ business and the SLB digital CCS workflows. SLB and Microsoft are also collaborating to develop an Azure-compliant open-source data platform that will serve as the digital infrastructure for Northern Lights.
