Equinor and partners will replace two gas turbines with heat recovery to produce electric power at Statfjord C.
A new steam turbine will produce electricity based on surplus heat from two gas compressors. This will make the energy consumption more efficient and cut 25% of total annual CO2 emissions on Statfjord C, equivalent to 50,000 cars (95,000 tonnes).
The changes do not require power supply from shore. The solution is called low weight bottoming cycle, and by introducing it on Statfjord C, two of the existing gas turbines can be shut down.
The system is scheduled for start-up in 2026. It will be the first time this solution is used on an operated field at the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) and an important contribution to extend the field’s life to 2040, says Camilla Salthe, Equinor’s senior vice president for Field Life eXtension (FLX).
FLX is a unit in Equinor that is responsible for late-life fields. Its purpose is to optimize the fields’ operations and economy through new ways of working, with safety as its main priority.
“Heat recovery for electric power production has been used on new fields, both on the NCS and internationally. Now, for the first time, the solution is introduced on a mature field in production. This is possible due to the development of low-weight solutions,” says Ketil Rongved, Equinor’s vice president for FLX projects.
The Statfjord C project also involves electrification of water injection and emission cuts related to other energy intensive processes on the platform.
This project is one of many measures to cut emissions from the production at Statfjord. For instance, a heat recovery unit on Statfjord B has cut CO2 emissions by 20,000 tonnes every year since 2021.
The licence partners in the Statfjord Unit are: Equinor Energy (40.17028%), Okea (23.93123%), Vår Energi (21.36717%), Equinor UK (14.53131%)