E&P meets renewables at Offshore Energy 2017

October 10-11 AmsterdamPG and sister company T&A Survey will be present at the 10th Offshore Energy conference and trade show at the Amsterdam RAI conference centre in the Netherlands. Offshore Energy is Europe’s leading offshore event and has traditionally been focused on oil and gas, but new energy resources, like wind and marine energy, are becoming more and more important and provide interesting opportunities for the Oil and Gas industry.

The Southern North Sea is a challenging region for the E&P sector. Though larger operators slowly downsize their activities in the area, small to mid-size players can still benefit from the existing infrastructure and knowledge. Recent activities in the Dutch offshore proof that companies are still exploring and finding new accumulations. As such we know that new discoveries can still be made. However, most easy picks have already been targeted and a different approach may be necessary to be successful in the future. One of these approaches is the synergy of E&P and alternative energy sources, such as wind energy.

Synergy
Collaboration between the current E&P sector and the sustainable technology sector can lead to benefits for both parties in various areas. The electricity grid of a windfarm is present, it could benefit the E&P sector. Small gas fields which are too far from gas infrastructure could transform their gas directly into electricity, using he windfarm electricity grid. This way small gas fields and/or prospects which would have been neglected before, will  fall within a positive business case. The vicinity of a windfarm could also provide power for offshore platforms. Currently expensive diesel aggregates, running on diesel which needs to be shipped from the mainland, are constructed on offshore platforms. This doesn’t make much sense when an alternative power source is nearby.

Hydrogen storage
Energy storage is another hot item. It is possible to produce hydrogen with superfluous wind energy generated in peak hours. The hydrogen can be stored underground in order to be extracted when needed. Old gas fields are extremely suitable for hydrogen storage. The proximity of a wind farm on one hand and underground gas infrastructure on the other hand is a great asset for energy efficiency.

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