Operators continue to focus on cost-effective installation solutions to support development of more marginal hydrocarbon resources:
Low-cost unmanned wellhead platforms, onshore smart rooms for remote operations, and novel personnel transport systems such Walk to Work vessels
In addition, in 2023 emission reduction and low-carbon power have been included in many Operators’ plans:
- Hybrid power systems, waste heat recovery and local power generation from wave energy generation and electrification
- Drones for methane measurement
- Flash gas recovery to reduce flare gas volumes
- Subsea energy storage for subsea control system electrification and subsea processing
168 technologies related to the design and equipment for surface installations were reported in 2023, the second largest category after Facilities Management.
Operators’ focus includes
- process equipment able to cope with more complex fluid compositions
- facilities’ monitoring and remote operations
- increasing attention on power efficiencies and emission reduction
9 Operators carry at least 5 Topsides technologies in their current Plans, and 13 more Operators report at least 1 technology
Operators focus on Proven Technologies, but with at least 30% of technologies still in Pilot or Early Commercialisation stages
Industry relies on Vendors to source technologies for new facilities and facility upgrades
Operator-vendor partnerships are also common to address specific facility requirements green-field projects and asset upgrades, and the offshore emission reduction targets
Readiness definitions: Early Development (TRL 1-4), Late Development/Pilot (TRL 5-7), Early commercialisation (TRL 8), Proven (TRL 9)
Operators are focussing on intelligent plant analysis, retrofit gas turbine controls, use of AI and Machine learning for analytics and event detection, DCS and automated control systems. Also upgrading old control systems and installing cloud-based upgrades to receive live stream data from offshore.
- Intelligent Plant "Alarm Analysis Pro" app - Tool to analyse nuisance alarms coming-in to control room and helps resolve issues with control system alarms.
- TRL9 Proven Technologies
- Retrofit gas turbine controls - Retrofit gas turbine controls plus removing obsolete items on package. More feedback into control system - provides greater feedback loop. Can add parts that move components for preservation reasons
- TRL9 Proven Technologies
- DCS upgrade - The Operators FPSO DCS system currently comprises a mixture of Process Controllers, together with associated IT/coms infrastructure and interfaces to other ICSS systems. Operator is undertaking a brownfield change-out / upgrade to address these issues
- TRL9 Proven Technologies
- Control system upgrades - Replacement of obsolete, disparate control systems on Operators asset with a single, modern DCS (DeltaV).
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- Automatic Control System (ACS) – Automation of ESP operations, automated control systems to operate ESP’s Automatically.
- TRL9 Proven Technologies
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Technology Example: Automatic Control Systems –ABB Automated Control system for ESP’s |
 Link: TI 22 - 54. Technology Examples - ABB ESP Automated Control Systems.docx |
- Cloud-based PI system - Deployed the PI system in the azure cloud-based system to receive the live data stream from offshore and ingest data from the morning report
- TRL9 Proven technologies
- Ambrit - Improve accuracy of metering information onshore to improve condition monitoring and accuracy of metering data
- TRL 5-7 Late Development/Pilot
- Weidmuller Analytics - machine learning software - Proof of concept that machine learning can highlight areas for improvement and potential diagnose very early event detection
- TRL 1-4 Early Development
Operator focus remains on a small number of technologies including chemical dosage testing, and produced water and CO2 re-injection technologies, although the number of individual technologies is small, some are used on multiple assets.
- Amine Vent Capture & Sequestration - Capturing the CO2 from the Amine Vent on the Elgin PUQ and injecting into nearby reservoir
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- Corrosion Inhibitor Dosage System - "CoMIC is a technology that provides information on optimal dosage of corrosion inhibitors by measuring micelle concentration. Benefits include increased asset integrity, reduced pipeline inspections, potential chemical cost reduction."
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
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Technology Example: Anpera Technologies third generation of CoMic™Micelle analysis system. provides results rapidly in the field. The data is easily integrated into databases, archives and visualisation software |
 Link:TI 22 - 55. Technology Examples - Anpera CoMic Micelle Field Analysis Test Kits.docx |
- Produced water re-injection - Produced water reinjection, (NSTA information - (PWRI) is a method for eliminating the environmental impact of discharging produced water at offshore oil production sites. Reinjection of produced water has been carried out on several locations around the world. In most cases the activities have been concentrated on individual wells and have not included mixing the produced water with seawater prior to injection).
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
Operators' technology plans show a greater uptake of flare gas and flash gas recovery technologies, membrane and compact separation systems, and more efficient valve technologies. New for 2023 are liquid ring compressors for flare gas recovery, and technology to decelerate scaling/fouling of topsides process equipment.
- Gas Recovery to Reduce Flaring – Reduction to the flare waste stream via recovery of gas back into the process stream. specialized compression packages, which aim to recover and repurpose emissions that would normally be burned during the flaring process.
- TRL9 Proven Technologies
- VIEC Enhanced Oil/Water separation - Electrostatic coalescing technology that is installed inside an oil/water separator
- TRL9 Proven Technologies
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Technology Example: Sulzer’s electrostatic coalescer internals for vessels VIEC™ Processing technology for oil and gas upstream operations. The solution can improve productivity and separation efficiency. |
 Link: TI 22 – 56. Technology Example – Sulzer Chemtech’s Advanced VEIC Oil-Water Seperation.docx |
- Eductor Vapour Recovery - Reduce the CO2 footprint from Flaring of process flash gas. Use of the latest Eductor Vapour Recovery Compression tech to capture flash gas to reduce flaring.
- TRL9 Proven Technologies
- Low Shear Valves - Control valve that minimizes mixing energy. Inline and angle type. Leaves droplets intact to improve performance of subsequent separation / treatment.
- TRL9 Proven Technologies
- Liquid Ring Compressors - For Flare Gas Recovery, uses a liquid ring formed from the operating liquid, instead of a mechanical piston to compress gases and vapors without any metallic parts contacting one another, which impacts efficiency and leads to increased maintenance, downtime and mechanical failure.
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- Ceramic based static / passive membrane filtration system - A commercial ceramic based static / passive membrane system, developed by Rena Quality Group, which will allow offline oil removal from produced water.
- TRL 8 Early Commercialisation
- Stemless Valves - Axial flow stemless valves could remove fugitive emission and the reliability and integrity issues associated with a conventional valve. Also, they may reduce flow-induced instability in some services .
- TRL 8 Early Commercialisation
- Clearwell technology - Technology being trialled to determine whether it decelerated scaling/fouling of topsides process
- TRL 8 Early Commercialisation
- Chemicals to manage heavy/light oil mixture - Developing a new family of chemicals, which the aim of combating a unique issue of mixing existing light oil with a new heavy oil tieback.
- TRL 5-7 Late Development/Pilot
- Compact separation – CNOOC Working with BSC Technology supported by the Net Zero Technology Centre to develop a super compact multi-phase separator (“Mosely Separator”) with potential to add value across full asset life cycle.
- TRL 1-4 Early Development
Operators' technology plans for 2023 show digital twin technology being applied in new ways for hull fatigue external structure modelling. New this year are suitcase inspection ROVs for wastewater tank inspection and new valve technology for TEG systems.
- Sevan 400 Cylindrical FPSO - Adopt Sevan 400 FPSO design for Penguins project to remove the need for turret and enable project to be economically feasible
- TRL9 Proven Technologies
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Technology Example: Sevan 400 Cylindrical FPSO used for Shells Penguins field - Sevan hull design currently under construction by Shell at COOEC’s Qingdao Yard. |
 Link: TI 22 – 57. Technology Example – Sevan 400 Cylindrical FPSO.docx |
- Hybrid digital twin technology for FPSO hull fatigue monitoring - Real-time digital hull integrity monitoring using strain gauges installed on the FPSOs hull
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- ROV Surveys in Waste Water FPSO Tank - Suitcase ROV inspection of waste water tank to locate hull penetration
- TRL 9 Proven technologies
- Use of Temporary repair patch for Hull repair scopes - To allow for repair of hole in FPSO hull, a temporary patch installed by ROV was used to allow for welding repair within the FPSO tank.
- TRL 9 Proven Technolgies
- iHawk- 3D photogrammetry model of external structures using drone technology on FPSO’s
- TRL 8 Early Commercialisation
- Diverless I-Tube integrity scans - the AOC subsea team together with a selected vendor developed a diverless method by constructing multiple sleeves that join and fit into the I-Tube that can incorporate a UT and scanning tool. This will be dropped down the I-Tube and sleeves will bridge the gap between the upper and lower I-Tubes allowing the tool to reach that un-accessible section to carry out the scans.
- TRL 5-7 Late Development/Pilot
- IMI-CCI Valve tech for contaminated fluids treatment - Installation pilot project on Anasuria. The new valve design in the TEG contactor system allow large pressure drop at low flow for solid contaminated fluids treatment.
- TRL 5-7 Late Development/Pilot
Adoption of NII technologies including for hard-to-reach inspection of cargo tanks, use of remote UT and sensor arrays, and deployment of predictive analytics to improve production efficiency. New this year are caisson cleaning & inspection tools, high frequency radar level detectors for drains vessels and improved broadband comms links.
- IRIS Upgrade - Updated Incident reporting system including action tracking and learning
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- Predictive Analytics for Plant Monitoring - Use of a third party vendor using data to improve plant efficiency / prevent trips
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- Auriga Splashzone Scanner - Externally deployed caisson cleaning and inspection tool. Also has potential for conductor inspections to help justify removal strategy (Cormorant Alpha).
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- Cargo Oil Tank Inspection Tools - Inspection tools and platforms that can reliably inspect cargo oil tanks in service. (1) Eliminate confined space entry for inspectors and (2) increased production efficiency by avoiding production slowdowns and shutdowns
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
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Technology Example: TEXO successfully pioneered a new unmanned inspection method on a major UK North Sea FPSO, delivering significant safety, time and cost saving benefits in surveying a vast oil storage tank. Link:TI 22 – 60. Technology Example – TEXO Caged Drone Vessel Inspection .docx |
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- Inductosense - remote UT & sensor Array - Reduced/removed requirement for Corrosion Coupon removal every 6 months Circa £40K per year saving. Removed requirement for Break containment permits.
- TRL 8 Early Commercialisation
- Starlink - Installation of Starlink for Broadband internet, comms and back-up
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- Vega high frequency radar level detector - Reliable level measurement in drains vessel - level detector which does not require guidance tube which is susceptible to blocking up.
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- Neutron Backscatter Inspection for CUI - we sought to develop a screening method to identify areas of insulated pipework most susceptible to CUI (i.e. those with presence of water in lagging). Neutron backscatter tool deployed during 2018. this includes review of value associated with Neutron Backscatter tool.
- TRL 5-7 Late Development/Pilot
Operators' technology plans for 2023 continue to show operator focus is on more sophisticated methods of emissions monitoring including use of AI, and improved detection methods. New this year are virtual metering and autonomous methane measurement using fixed FLIR cameras.
- PEMS Systems - Use Predicate emission monitoring + streamlined reporting to improve accuracy of emission reporting from combustion plant and flare
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
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Technology Example: ABB PEMS to improve efficiency and streamline emissions reporting. ABB offer the PEMS solution |
 Link TI 23 – 05 Technology Example – FLIR Emissions Monitoring Camera - Copy.docx |
- NIR Spectral Analysis offshore - Lab studies and field trials to establish the potential to utilise NIR Spectral analysis characterisation of production stream crudes for hydrocarbon characterisation, stream allocation and cell stock management
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- Virtual Metering -Use of Delta V for flow computation/totalising in Fiscal and Allocation metering systems which lowers lifecycle costs. Already been carried out on some metering awaiting approval for use on Fiscal metering.
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- SmartMix Oil Metering Upgrade - Upgrade of Bittern, Guillemot West Test oil metering to 32-path M&T DFX Ultrasonic Flow Meters to improve accuracy. The SmartMix Technology utilises a unique liquid jet in cross flow (LJICF) configuration, provides superior and efficient mixing, which in turn delivers practically infinite turndown in flow rates while also ensuring zero pressure drop.
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- Methane Drone survey - Use of remote systems e.g. drones to collect data on unburnt hydrocarbons/methane and fugitives
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- Midas Meter - Acoustic Emissions Sensor – (passing valves) - Acoustic emissions sensor used to survey blow down valves
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- AI for Emissions Reduction A digital solution that helps carbon intensive companies to overcome these challenges, decarbonise their operations and reduce emissions, energy and fuel costs. It contextualises operational emissions and leverages engineering first principles, analytics and AI to identify hidden operational inefficiencies, improvements and opportunities to lower emissions and costs. flaring.
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- Autonomous Methane Measurement - Measurement of methane emissions from unburnt fuel gas, unburnt flare gas, venting and fugitives.
Use of ATEX rated autonomous measurement device to detect and quantify baseline methane emissions and abnormal events using TDLAS measurement technique. repair.- TRL 5-7 Late Development/Pilot
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Technology Example: FLIR Camera The FLIR G300 a optical gas imaging (OGI) camera visualizes gas, so you can monitor installations in remote or hazardous areas for gas leaks. hydrocarbon or volatile organic compound (VOC) leaks cameras are widely used in industrial settings, such as offshore platforms. |
 Link: TI 23 – 05 Technology Example – FLIR Emissions Monitoring Camera.docx |
Growing adoption of low carbon power technologies including waste heat recovery and wave energy generation, and lean direct injection for gas turbines.
- Helix Wind turbine – Adding a wind turbine to a Hybrid Power System to reduce the running hour of the back-up diesel generator
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- Hybrid power system - Hybrid power system providing a maintenance free solution in the form of solar panels, providing power to the platform whilst charging batteries. Two small lean-burn diesel-engine driven generators will provide energy in case the renewable system fails.
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- Pilotless Gas Turbine Burners - Coking in the GT burners and burner pilot blockages causes significant issues on power generation reliability on Lomond and North Everest Gas Turbines (GTs). This leads to significant cost to maintaining the packages due to frequent burner change-outs when running on liquid fuel additionally it is driving the need to have additional generation online leading to higher emissions than required to provide power on Lomond and North Everest.
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- Low Carbon Power Solutions - Review wind power solutions & grid connection for the CNS as part of a collaborative effort with energy suppliers and other operators
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- Platform Electrification (Power Supply) - Development of grid tie-in, conversion of AC to HVDC for transmission in a subsea HVDC cable to an offshore sub-station
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
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Electrification of Asset via Floating Wind Solution – INTOG for total and partial electrification of offshore asset with floating wind power sources
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TRL 8 Early Commercialisation
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- Solar Titan LDI DLE Upgrade - Current NOx Emissions on the Solar Titans on Catcher are conventional rich combustion levels. This is approximately 10-14 times the level that can theoretically be achieved with new Dry Low NOx systems on gas turbines. Solar Lean Direct Injection (LDI) DLE system for the Titan gas turbines
- TRL 8 Early Commercialisation
- Eco Gen WHR to Power- Currently all the waste heat from the simple cycle GTs goes to the atmosphere that could potentially be used to generate electrical power. the challenge do this economically on a brownfield asset. Eco Gen is an offering from Siemens that may be a compact engine to economically deploy offshore.
- TRL 5-7 Late Development/Pilot
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Technology Example: The Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing round is a process by which developers apply for the rights to build offshore wind farms specifically to provide low carbon electricity to power oil and gas installations to decarbonise oil and gas operations and enable innovative projects. Both large-scale and small, single wind turbine facilities are considered as part of the round |
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- Wave Energy Convertor (WEC) - Innovative system for generating electricity from ocean waves
- TRL 1-4 Early development
Operators report onshore smart rooms for remote operations of unmanned facilities, novel personnel transport systems such as dedicated Walk to Work vessels, and small-scale renewable power packages
- Onshore Smart Rooms – Onshore Smart Rooms connected to Offshore Control Rooms
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- Walk to work - heave compensated platform - Use of walk to work technology utilising a heave compensated platform sited on the back of a surface vessel to provide an alternative means of accessing the platform or SPM.
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
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Technology Example: The Ampelmann system combined with this vessel is an alternative solution to support installation, maintenance, upgrading and life extension for offshore wind and oil and gas platforms and (aging) production facilities. |
Link: TI 22 – 59. Technology Example – Ampelman W2W system.docx |
- Remote Operations - Remote operated platform from onshore control room
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- Renewable Power Package - Installation of renewable power package allowing for emissions reduction and less maintenance/intervention.
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
