The future energy landscape
Published by Sara Simper,
Editorial Assistant
World Pipelines,
The goodwill and enthusiasm of the COP26 summit to do the right things for future generations would appear to have broad agreement and support from international governments. A move away from the energy sources that have adverse impacts to the climate is most likely inevitable, but is clearly a highly complex and challenging task to achieve. In a recent media article, Pulitzer Prize energy author, Daniel Yergin stated history has demonstrated energy transitions take time to achieve, and do not necessarily completely sever the dependence from the status quo.1 The global reliance on oil and gas is not simply just as an energy source, but also the derivatives for materials and products that are used daily. It is certain to take time to unwind from this. As Elon Musk stated through gritted teeth, “Solutions to maximise natural resource output will be necessary to meet current energy demand and support such transition”
Secondary to the human crisis in Ukraine, energy supply issues and energy poverty now dominate the headlines. In a similar way to the geopolitical energy crisis of the 1970’s, the current situation in Eastern Europe has sparked countries to re-evaluate their energy security. The recent UK government announcement to address a baseload electrical supply of 24 GW via nuclear power by 2030 is still some way distant. In addition to this, in what may seem an obvious strategy, has been the broad support to encourage the development of the remaining national oil and gas reserves. In the UK, most hydrocarbon operators have taken a commitment to explore and produce these natural resources efficiently with lower emissions. For new field development, the UK Oil and Gas authority (OGA) requires developers to submit comprehensive plans on the practical steps they will take to make any new development net-zero emissions for the complete lifecycle of the asset. This is in addition to the current legislative compliance for an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). With the price of a barrel currently >US$100, and investment capital seeing more certainty on a quick return, exploration drilling, subsea tieback and field redevelopment may bring forward another peak of activity, but this still brings cost and risk to projects being approved and sanctioned.
Achieving flow assurance
Existing infrastructure and production hubs will be a critical part of such a ‘mini boom’. The integrity of structural and pressure systems will be at the core. In mature basins such as the North Sea, much of the remaining reserves are in smaller isolated (stranded) locations. The pipeline network will be essential to connect the pockets to realise field viability and value. With many systems in late life and beyond original design parameters, material degradation will require consistent and accurate direct methods of measurement to provide confidence in the assessments and predicted remanent life.
With the double dip recession and low oil price, existing assets that were experiencing flow assurance issues were often shut in as the economics of remediation or replacement were prohibitive. In the current climate, addressing the challenges of blocked or restricted flow of pipeline infrastructure has potential to increase throughput significantly for relatively low investment. Providing solutions to such flow assurance issues are now a substantial proportion of Tracerco’s operational projects …
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