Equinor to Power Troll Field with Clean Energy

Norway’s Equinor has handed a design contract to Oslo-based Aker Solutions for upgrading platforms at the Troll gas field to run on power supplied from shore, it said on January 15.

Equinor this month became the latest oil and gas producer to promise drastic cuts to its greenhouse gas emissions. Among other measures, it plans to power key platforms with electricity supplied from onshore hydroelectric plants and other renewable energy sources, replacing gas turbines.

In a statement, the state oil giant said the front-end engineering and design (Feed) contract awarded to Aker covered topside modifications at the Troll B and C platforms. Equinor plans to take a final investment decision on the project by the end of 2020. At this point it will have an option under the Feed contract to commission Aker for engineering, procurement and construction and installation work.

"This is an important award that supports the industry’s ambition to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions in Norway with 40% by 2030 and to near zero by 2050,” Equinor’s chief procurement officer Peggy Krantz-Underland said.

Equinor expects the investment to lead to an annual CO2 reduction of 450,000 mt. The project’s scope also includes an 80-km subsea power cable from Kollsnes to Troll B, and a second 17-km line from Troll B to Troll C. Equinor has already awarded a separate Feed contract to Norwegian firm Multiconsult for onshore civil work.

The Troll field is situated in the North Sea 65 km west of Kollsnes. Its A platform became the first to be fed with power from the shore in 1996. Equinor’s partners at the site are Petoro, Shell, Total and ConocoPhillips.