Innovation

Schlumberger has been providing technologies and solutions for the oil and gas companies to drill wells safely and efficiently. While this industry continues to exist, the company developed a software-based system to help its customers reduce their carbon footprint. The company is operating across the globe so does the solution.

Traditionally the drilling rigs (Drilling platforms) use 4 big diesel generators to power all the rig’s operations. The energy consumed fluctuates due to the nature of the equipment, but engines are continuously generated without proper control, which results in extra power being dispelled. This inefficiency in power management leads to huge fuel consumption and CO2 emission and this has been the case since the early days of the industry.

The intelligent power management system takes control of the rig power and comprises software connected to an energy storage sub-system and a hydrogen production and control unit. The software acquires data from all the rig equipment sensors as well as the emission sensors and processes them to optimize the engine's performance. In other words, when the power need is low the system diverts excess energy to the battery sub-system. When the need for power is higher it draws from the batteries instead of reviving up the generators.

Inspiration

Schlumberger has always been a primary technology provider for the upstream Oil and Gas companies. And innovation has always been at the core of its technology, however with climate change and the urgency to reduce emissions, the company has to direct its innovation initiatives toward such a goal. Rigs and natural resources extraction operations will remain there for decades to fulfill the global energy needs, but also, they are heavy users of diesel systems which represent one of the significant sources of emission. Obviously, there should be a way to lessen the impact of this industry while it continues to exist. Schlumberger thought of leveraging its partnership with the major oil and gas players and starting with the first circle of the chain of the oil and gas extraction to reduce their impact on the environment.

“Somehow we associate ourselves with the people who are aligned and who want to reduce their emissions of fuel burn from the rig, so it is directly part of our efforts”

From this perspective, the company through its partnerships took the ownership and initiative to start making the efforts of reducing the emissions. This innovation is not the end, but it is a means among many other initiatives to make an impactful change to our environment.

“Achieving the net zero emission goal cannot be done at once, but it is an incremental of small efforts from all the involved parties”

Overall impact

Crude oil and gas producers are considered among the most pollutants industries, and as long as this circle of the energy chain continues to exist due its global vital need, innovative solutions need to emerge to lessen the impact and drive toward a lower emission rate. The intelligent power management helps oil and gas producer reduce their CO2 emission by as much as 30% and their diesel consumption by 20%. With an estimated global emission of 5200 million Tonnes of GHG emission from Oil and Gas operations, and by scaling the solution, a 30% reduction will save the world as much as 1560 Million Tonnes of CO2 emissions. So, this innovation will provide a solution for the major players in the industry to move faster towards the net-zero commitment and thus reduce the impact on our environment. In addition, it will save money from the diesel consumption.

Nowadays countries across the globe started to implement carbon taxes for companies, as the oil and gas ones are impacted by this legislation financially, this solution is helping them reduce their emission and thus save more money.

Business benefit

Schlumberger has a long history of providing technologies and solutions to the Oil and Gas companies that help them extract oil in the most efficient way, and now the company is diverting part of its research and technology expertise towards sustainability initiatives. This innovation is a completely new product line and thus a new revenue stream. Like any other technological investment, research and development are involved, and new project teams are deployed, which increased the hiring of new employees that they wouldn’t be employed here otherwise, in addition, it is creating an expertise in the field of sustainability. That is creating manpower and knowledge in such a growing and more than ever needed industry.

Social and environmental benefit

The intelligent power management system is benefiting mainly the environment. It is aimed to reduce the CO2 emissions by 30% which, if scaled properly, could save the global environment as much as 1560 million tonnes of GHG. Let’s imagine this solution doesn’t exist! Major oil and gas producers will continue to operate as they are, given that there in no immediate alternative to the global energy needs, and thus emissions will continue to be higher. So, in other words, this power management for the rigs is helping to reduce the carbon emissions from the air, in addition through further development it is opening the doors to evolvements like any other technology and thus further reduction in the emission and environment protection.

Interview

Syed Muhammad Fahim Ud Din, Outcome Value ESG Performance Lead