• Date: 06 - 09 Jun 2022
• Venue: Online
• Tutor: Bob Harrison, Sustainable Ideas Ltd

Overview

Attaining net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 will require strategies to use existing and emerging low or zero carbon technologies. One potential opportunity is to repurpose existing hydrocarbon facilities to help meet net zero targets in the UK. It is hoped that integrating such infrastructure could lower costs and accelerate the energy transition whilst simultaneously postponing the decommissioning of ageing assets.

Duration and Logistics

Virtual version: Four 3.5-hour interactive online sessions presented over 4 days (mornings in North America and afternoons in Europe).

Level and Audience

Intermediate. The course is intended for professionals working in energy transition; those involved in energy policy; and energy sector investors

Objectives

You will learn to:

• Understand how repurposing hydrocarbon infrastructure may aid energy transition.
• Appreciate how the handling of CO2, hydrogen and heat differs from oil and gas.
• Select sites for potential underground storage and sources of geothermal energy.
• Determine the suitability and availability of infrastructure for re-use.
• Evaluate the pros and cons of using captured CO2 for enhanced oil recovery rather than storage.
• Appreciate how repurposed wells and co-produced water may help potential geothermal development.
• Characterise risks and uncertainties in energy transition projects and discuss possible mitigation strategies.
• Estimate potential cost savings from hydrocarbon infrastructure re-use.

Course Content

The integration of transport, utilisation and storage operations of CO2 and/or hydrogen with reused offshore oil and gas infrastructure will be introduced.

As the properties and behaviour of CO2 and hydrogen are different from those of oil and gas, their impact on operations will be discussed.

A workflow is presented to identify potential storage sites and suitable adjacent infrastructure in the North Sea. In addition, a cost benefit analysis of utilising CO2 for enhanced oil recovery offshore is debated.

Moving into the geothermal sector, there will be an assessment of the potential for harvesting such energy more cheaply by reusing existing UK onshore wells and for harvesting the heat from water co-produced with oil.

Finally, the estimated operational risks and corresponding mitigations associated with repurposed hydrocarbon infrastructure are contrasted with the potential lowering of costs and postponement of abandonment expenditure outlay during energy transition will be debated.

Examples from the public domain will be reviewed to highlight some of the issues raised.

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