Decarbonisation of Offshore Oil & Gas Production Platforms a Case Study of the North Sea

Abstract

Abstract The United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS) of the North Sea Greenhouse gas emission from offshore oil & gas operations accounts for 14 mega tonnes of Co2 equivalent per annum, the majority of which comes from power generation for platforms (10 mega tonnes per annum of CO2 accounting for 70% of total CO2 emissions). In line with the COP 26 agreements and the Net Zero timeline, Green House Gas (GHG) emissions from power generation for offshore oil and gas platforms is one aspect that is key to the long-term decarbonisation of the North Sea. In this paper the Sustainability Assessment approach of Multi Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) is used to analyse electrification options on a case study offshore oil and gas production platform in the North Sea by considering Technical, Economic and Environmental criteria. These sustainability indicator criteria are then evaluated using Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) to normalise decision making in the ranking process of electrification options. The results show that decarbonisation of the offshore oil and gas platforms can be achieved by using the sustainability assessment approach to determine the best electrification option available to any offshore production platform.