Odfjell Drilling, Siemens Energy partner to install systems on semisubmersibles for emissions reduction

Odfjell Drilling will retrofit its newest deepwater, semisubmersible drilling rigs in the Norwegian North Sea with the Siemens Energy BlueDrive DC-Grid system. The upgrades will be carried out on Deepsea Atlantic and Deepsea Nordkapp, with the opportunity to include Deepsea Stavanger, Deepsea Aberdeen, and Deepsea Yantai at a later stage.

With these upgrades, the rigs will push the boundaries for conventionally powered offshore rigs and set a new technological standard in Odfjell Drilling’s strategy towards zero-emission drilling.

“These projects are the result of asking a simple yet challenging question: ‘What would be the most efficient technological approach to minimize emissions from a rig in the short term?’ The resulting ideas were very well received by Odfjell Drilling’s customers and will contribute to their long-term emission targets, so this is business and low-emission targets working hand-in-hand,” said Per Lund, Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President, Technology and Sustainability, Odfjell Drilling.

“Our agreement with Odfjell Drilling affirms our ability to understand and deliver complete, innovative, and cutting-edge solutions in line with our customers’ expectations, which include design, engineering services, interfacing with third parties and fabrication of state-of-the-art power electronics, as well as financial advice and support,” said Jennifer Hooper, Senior Vice President, Industrial Applications Solutions for Siemens Energy.