Offshore staff
London — Petrofac will be supporting CeraPhi Energy in a first-of-a-kind geothermal study looking at the repurposing of oil and gas wells using CeraPhi’ s closed-loop system, according to a recent Petrofac news release.
The study, supported by the Net Zero Technology Centre in Aberdeen, will cover the initial phase of a staged process to determine how retrofitted wells can reduce the carbon footprint of an operating platform. The study will use EnQuest’s Magnus Platform as the base case, for which Petrofac is also operations and maintenance contractor.
Petrofac’s topside engineering team will work collaboratively with CeraPhi’s subsurface engineering team to incorporate CeraPhi’s advanced closed-loop technology, CeraPhiWell, which is designed to fit into old wells to extract heat from deep underground by a downhole heat exchanger.
Depending on the results of the study, the heat produced could be used as direct power and/or heating or cooling for utilities and other services, reducing the overall carbon emissions of the facility.
Jonathan Carpenter, vice president of Petrofac New Energy Services, said this study has the potential to unlock a new way of generating renewable power using existing oil and gas infrastructure.
Petrofac aims to decarbonize the oil and gas production process and have wider applicability for clean baseload power.
Karl Farrow, CeraPhi's founder and CEO, added, "If we can use old nonproductive wells to produce clean baseload energy, why can’t we make those same wells produce carbon-free energy when they are drilled, reducing the carbon footprint during the oil and gas extraction process and ensuring the maximum use of these assets through a complete energy transition over decades?”
05.23.2022
