With oil set to remain a part of the energy mix in the decades ahead, green energy innovator Ocean Harvesting Technologies, in collaboration with Lundin Energy Norway, is exploring how wave energy could be used to provide electricity to oil & gas platforms.

In a future aligned with a 2ºC pathway, the world is striving to decarbonise. Oil plays an important role, making up around 31 per cent of the energy mix today. In the future, oil’s influence is expected to diminish proportionately, with its share of the energy mix expected to shrink to around 23 per cent by 2040. Nonetheless, in order to meet both future energy demand and climate targets, it will be critical to decarbonise the production of oil and gas as much as possible.

Decarbonising extraction and production activities

Lundin Energy’s carbon intensity per barrel of oil produced is approximately one-sixth of the industry world average, and the company is on course to become one of the first oil & gas companies worldwide to achieve carbon neutrality from 2025 onwards.

 

To achieve carbon neutrality across operational emissions, Lundin Energy Norway’s key focus is on decarbonising extraction and production activities. In accordance with this aim, the company is collaborating with Ocean Harvesting Technologies through a new R&D study on how installation of wave energy converters could potentially provide clean, stable and cost-effective electricity to an offshore oil & gas platform.

Electrifying offshore operations with wave power

The one-year project will run until February 2022, and will provide valuable data and information on how to electrify major offshore operations with wave power, as well as setting both Ocean Harvesting Technologies and Lundin Energy Norway at the forefront of decarbonisation of oil & gas production in support of the shift to a lower carbon and sustainable energy future.

 

“Lundin Energy Norway is a leader in decarbonisation,” noted Kristin Færøvik, the company’s Managing Director. “Our assets are already highly efficient and low-carbon. However, the challenges to the wider sector in decarbonising production can be significant, especially offshore. We are therefore excited to work with Ocean Harvesting Technologies to identify new ways of powering offshore activities with their innovative wave energy convertor solution.”

Mikael Sidenmark, CEO at Ocean Harvesting Technologies, said the case study, which aimed to develop a specification and system design for a wave power installation at an oil & gas platform, would provide “valuable input” for his firm in better understanding the requirements for such an installation. “The project will guide us through the early validation stages of our commercialisation,” he told us. “We are very excited for the opportunity to work with Lundin Energy Norway on this project.”