Equinor to replace gas turbines to cut emissions at North Sea platform

Equinor Energy AS and partners will replace two gas turbines with heat recovery to produce electric power on the Statfjord C platform in North Sea production license PL037. The replacement is expected to reduce annual CO₂ emissions by 95,000 tonnes, the operator said in a release Aug. 22.

A new steam turbine will produce electricity based on surplus heat from two gas compressors making energy consumption more efficient and cutting 25% of total annual CO₂ emissions on the platform, the operator continued.

The steam turbine is scheduled for start-up in 2026.

“Heat recovery for electric power production has been used on new fields, both on the [Norwegian Continental Shelf] and internationally. Now, for the first time, the solution is introduced on a mature field in production. This is possible due to the development of low-weight solutions,” said Ketil Rongved, Equinor’s vice-president for Field Life eXtension (FLX) projects, a unit responsible for late-life fields.

The project also involves electrification of water injection and emission cuts related to other energy intensive processes on Statfjord C, one of many measures to cut emissions from Statfjord production (OGJ Online, July 6, 2020).  A heat recovery unit on Statfjord B has cut CO₂ emissions by 20,000 tonnes every year since 2021, the company said.