Equinor aims to reduce the environmental footprint of more than 30 vessels it charters for offshore services through a deal with Yxney
Through this deal, Equinor will roll out Yxney’s Maress software for data-driven decarbonisation of its chartered offshore service fleet as part of its ambition to halve its maritime emissions in Norway by 2030, compared with 2005 levels. Yxney has a two-year contract with Equinor, with an option to extend this further.
Equinor will also collaborate with vessel owners and other technology suppliers to unlock significant fuel and emissions savings.
Maress will track the footprint and efficiency of Equinor’s chartered fleet of platform supply vessels (PSVs) and anchor handlers operating on the Norwegian continental shelf. This covers around 30 vessels fixed on medium- and long-term contracts supporting Equinor’s drilling and production operations in the North, Norwegian and Barents seas.
“Maress will allow Equinor to follow the effect of efficiency measures and facilitate systematic improvements and best practice across the various shipowners in the chartered fleet,” said Yxney chief executive Gjord Simen Sanna.
This deal comes as Equinor charters more vessels with technology to reduce emissions, such as batteries, LNG and hybrid propulsion.
Earlier in December 2020, Equinor chartered Havila Shipping’s PSVs Havila Charisma and Havila Foresight, for three years with a combined contract value close to Nkr800M (US$90.5M). This includes options and costs related to Havila Charisma’s modifications. Both vessels have previously been fitted with a battery and adapted for shore power to increase safety and reduce CO2 emissions.
Mr Sanna said Yxney’s software will encourage more owners to invest in batteries and other emissions reduction technology. “Maress can help Equinor and the vessel owners to gain a deeper understanding of the emissions reductions achieved by battery installation, and how batteries impact fuel consumption in the various areas of operation,” he said.
Mr Sanna reports the combined savings of the 250 vessels using Maress globally in 2020 will exceed 50,000 tonnes of CO2. “This is clear evidence of the effectiveness of data-driven decarbonisation, and the contribution to greener shipping that Maress can provide for shipowners and operators,” he concluded.
Equinor continues to invest in offshore energy production in Norway. On 12 December, Equinor commenced production from the Snorre expansion project in the North Sea.
This is an Nkr19.5Bn increased oil recovery project to prolong production on the Snorre A tension-leg platform field through to 2040. Equinor and partners – Petoro, Vår Energi, Idemitsu and Wintershall Dea – expect to recover almost 200M barrels of reserves from the field, which originally came on stream in 1992.
Investment in the Hywind Tampen floating windfarm project will deliver power to Snorre and Gulfaks platforms from Q3 2023.
Equinor said 24 new wells will be drilled to recover oil volumes in the Snorre expansion project. These wells are divided into six subsea templates. Bundles connecting the new wells to the platform have also been installed, in addition to new risers. The project also includes a new module and modifications on Snorre A.
Retrofitting of OSVs for green emissions will be discussed during Riviera’s Offshore Webinar Week, 19-21 January 2021 - use this link for more details and to register for these webinars
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