Offshore gas production infrastructure reutilisation for blue energy production

Blue energy is one of the development sectors identified in the European Union strategic documents within the blue economy that promotes the exploitation of the sea potential. European energy initiatives recognize the importance of blue energy and encourage its research and development. The offshore exploitation of hydrocarbons worldwide is entering the final phase, followed by the gradual decommissioning of the production platforms and their removal. Decommissioning usually has an adverse effect on the environment aside from its economic intensity. By proper planning, lifetime of existing offshore infrastructure can be extended as it can be used for blue energy or other activities related to the blue economy. The paper deals with preliminary assessment of natural gas offshore infrastructure applicability for various blue energy options such as the wind power for electricity generation along with hydrogen, methane or ammonia production and other uses to reduce waste, energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Methods used included data gathering from 19 offshore gas facilities including assessment of natural gas production on current offshore fields, reserves and technology use, wind potential and decommissioning. Review of potential for energy production, storage and other activities such as CCS and CCU have also been given. Preliminary results show that there are possibilities for feasible and environmentally friendly blue energy utilisation. Average calculated capacity factors for the wind turbines are at the 32%. To investigate economic feasibility of decommission delay, detailed data gathering of wind potential should be done at specific heights along with load capacity of the gas platforms.