Promise of low-emission drilling in North Sea

In a press release today Maersk Drilling has announced that their Intrepid rig has been converted to hybrid technology and is now operational. Intrepid is currently working the Martin Linge field for Equinor and is Maersk’s first low-emission rig. It jacked-up in November and its new technology package is expected to deliver “double-digit energy-saving potential.”

Maersk has confirmed that the rig has returned a 25% reduction in fuel and emissions during its first month of operations in comparison to the baseline average for the rig before conversion. As a bonus NOx emissions were reduced by 95%, 5% more than expected.

The conversion is part of a raft of measures Maersk is introducing to help meet its stated CO₂ reduction target of 50% by 2020. Other measures to reduce emissions include running rigs on shore-power and using discontinued fields for the storage of CO_2.

Tommy Johnsen, General Manager of the NOx Fund says: “Maersk Drilling shows that it is technically and financially feasible to retrofit offshore rigs with low-emission solutions. It is also important that the ambitions do not stop there, but, as in this case, that the new technology opens for further reductions towards a zero-emission future.”