Floating turbines found to not only pare emissions but also to slash costs
Wind power is typically used to decrease reliance on fossil fuels, but a new study shows that it could help produce more oil and gas at lower costs.
DNV GL, a Norwegian consulting firm, on Tuesday unveiled the results of a study of 6-megawatt floating turbines used to power water injection for offshore oil and gas wells in the North Sea. DNV, which released its finding at the Offshore Technology Conference, found that using wind power was not only environmentally sound, but also cut the cost of production by about $3 a barrel.
DNV executives said at they believe the technology is transferable to the Gulf of Mexico and even to onshore Texas oil fields that have nearby wind farms. Texas leads the U.S. in oil production and wind power.
DNV’s presentation was among a
growing number of renewable and energy efficiency projects touted at the NRG Part as way to help with oil and gas production. DNV Group President and CEO Remi Eriksen acknowledged the irony of renewable technologies helping produce more oil, but he said the focus is on creating projects that benefit both the wind and oil and gas sectors. The study was dubbed “Win Win.”
“For the renewable industry, you can say, ‘Well, why should we power the dirty part of the industry?’ ” Eriksen said. “But this is really a very good test, where there is a commercial (wind) operation with no subsidies involved. It really makes economic sense.”
It also makes environmental sense, he said, by replacing fossil fuel-powered pumping systems and reducing the carbon footprint of producing oil and gas.
“It will be a greening of oil and gas as well,” Eriksen said.
Statoil, the Norwegian energy company that owns and operates the floating turbines, launched the first one in 2009. Statoil said it has reduced project costs by more than 60 percent since then and plans to spend roughly $235 million to install a 30-megawatt wind farm on five floating turbine structures offshore of Peterhead, Scotland in 2017.
Each floating wind turbine, with a capacity of 6 megawatts, would have an electrical micro-grid system and an autonomous pumping system to collect, treat and inject water for oil production. No more than one turbine is needed for each injection well, said Johan Sandberg, DNV seg- ment leader for floating wind turbines.
The project would cost less to set up than current well-injection systems but cost a little more to operate. Overall, it could create savings of up to 20 percent, or about $3 a barrel produced, Sandberg said. He added that Statoil could eventually bring the technology to the United States.
“There’s a lot of potential in the Gulf of Mexico,” Sandberg said, for both wind-powered oil recovery and for traditional offshore wind farms
The projects are only economical up to depths of about 3,300 feet, or 1,000 meters, because the moorings costs more in ultradeep environments, he said, at least until the technology advances.
In a prepared statement, Exxon Mobil, which helped fund the DNV study, said it is intrigued by niche opportunities for wind such as offshore oil production. Other companies touted wind technologies at OTC as well.
For instance, the Netherlands-based SMB Offshore primarily provides floating production, storage and offloading vessels. But SMB this week also is showcasing its new efforts to lead offshore wind farm projects.