Decarbonisation Technology - February 2024 Issue

information from an operation command centre hundreds of miles away. Some production and transportation companies are reducing emissions by changing from fuel gas or diesel power for pump and compressor stations to electrical variable frequency drives (VFDs) powered by the electrical grid. When making this shift, VFDs can further reduce a company’s carbon footprint. VFDs deliver precise control for increasing and decreasing flow along a pipeline. This can help transportation companies reduce energy usage at compressor stations compared to using across-the-line motor starters that are less energy efficient. Digital twin technology Major players in the energy sector are spending big to digitally transform their operations and make them not only more sustainable, but also safer and more efficient. A prime example of this is the work that Total Energies is doing to advance autonomous offshore operations. The global energy company is implementing a robotic supervision system that allows operators at an onshore control room to remotely supervise and co-ordinate robots located on an offshore platform. The robots can autonomously perform a mix of activities that until now have been done by field operators at the platforms, including periodic inspection operations, maintenance tasks, and even emergency-response activities. Of course, navigating large and transformative operational changes like these comes with a lot of questions. What is the right technology choice? What kind of return on investment will the project deliver? Is the project even economically feasible? Digital twin technology can help answer these questions. A digital twin is a virtual representation of a real-world asset, whether a single piece of equipment or an entire facility. Digital twin technology is already used to help identify the best way to design and run operations by rigorously modelling and simulating them before they are built. Now, sustainability can be factored into the process to identify how facilities can be best designed to maximise carbon reduction. In one case, a company identified different

scenarios for taking excess gas that would typically be vented and flared and instead transforming the gas into a valuable product. The company simulated each scenario in a digital twin environment. It calculated not only the emissions reduction of each scenario but also its technical feasibility, Capex and Opex requirements, impacts on process efficiency, and the length of time for payback. Collaboration is key Decarbonisation is an effort that is too big for any one organisation to take on alone. That is why oil and gas companies should find the right partners for their sustainability projects. These partners can include their existing suppliers and OEMs, as well as consultants who understand how the intersection of OT and IT can support decarbonisation. In some cases, oil and gas companies may even find themselves working with entirely new kinds of partners to meet their digitalisation and decarbonisation goals. Vessel automation and digitalisation partners, for example, have emerged in recent years to help re-imagine what floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessels can be using digital and automation technologies. These partners can help design and build FPSO vessels with long-term operations in mind, and they can create the foundation on which current and future digital solutions will be deployed to maximise production and keep people safe while meeting sustainability goals. Conclusion Whether shifting to a new energy portfolio mix, deploying new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, or working with partners in deeper and more collaborative ways, oil and gas companies will need to be comfortable making significant changes to how they operate to decarbonise. Only through big, bold action will the oil and gas industry achieve its aggressive net-zero goals and show the world how clean energy is the future. Doing nothing will simply result in a very large carbon credit cost.

Bill Roberts