Norwegian oil and gas company StatoilHydro is installing a new gas-fueled power plant on its Heimdal platform in the North Sea, in a bid to reduce CO2 emissions.
The company noted that, combined with a number of other actions, the plant will reduce the carbon emissions from the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) by a volume equivalent to the combined emissions from all road traffic in Bergen, Norway.
The energy efficiency and energy recovery of this plant is reportedly much better than that of the existing power plant. This initiative is expected to reduce carbon emissions from the plant by 50,000 tonnes, or 55%. This represents a 25% reduction of the platform’s total carbon emissions. The new gas power plant will come on line in 2009.
StatoilHydro has said that it is implementing modifications to its existing platforms in a bid to increase energy efficiency, and to reduce the carbon emissions by a total of 370,000 tonnes per year in the period 2005-10.
Ivar Aasheim, senior vice president for StatoilHydro’s North Sea operations, said: Such environmental actions are positive for StatoilHydro. We aim to run our operations with optimally low emissions. The NCS has the lowest carbon emissions per oil barrel in the world. This is a competitive advantage for StatoilHydro and Norwegian industry in general that we intend to bolster.