The UK’s Oil & Gas Authority (OGA) has launched a £1-million(approximately $1.4-million) competition to advance widespread electrification of offshore installations on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS). Most of these facilities are currently powered by gas or diesel. Organizers of the competition are looking for technical, engineering, and commercial studies that will move electrification projects a step closer to reality.
The prize will be allocated among winning ideas to complete the proposed work by 31 March 2022. Key results from the studies will be published for others to benefit from and to build on the ideas generated.
According to the OGA, power generation accounts for around two-thirds of oil and gas production emissions. Two recent JPT articles discuss this issue and the approaches the industry is taking for subsea electrification and oilfield operations.
Platform electrification is a key component of the OGA’s vision for an integrated energy basin that it says could make a large contribution toward the country’s net-zero target through a mix of platform electrification, carbon capture and storage, offshore wind, and hydrogen. It anticipates that powering installations using electricity either from a cable to the shore or from a nearby windfarm could lead to 2–3 mtpa CO2 emissions reductions, or up to 60% of the UK’s entire CO2 abatement needed to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
More information on the competition, including how to apply, can be found here. OGA will present an information webinar on 4 October to illustrate the initiative and answer questions to registrants who have downloaded and submitted the competition information documents by 30 September.