From oil and gas to renewables – bridging the gap

2. USING OIL AND GAS EXPERIENCE TO TRANSFORM INTO SERVING THE RENEWABLE ENERGY REVOLUTION

Whilst we don’t believe in becoming complacent that oil and gas experience is directly transferable to the renewables industry, we certainly believe that the core domain skills can be applied to this expanding market.

Over the years Acteon has become experts in structural dynamic engineering of floating and fixed assets in oil and gas, which is transferable to renewable assets.

Acteon’s seabed experience can also be applied across all sectors. For both oil and gas and renewables projects, a detailed understanding of the seabed is required to come up with an anchoring and foundation solution.

Also, in both sectors, operators need to address the challenge of the OpEx (operational expenditure) cycle of an asset in harsh marine environments, how fixed or floating assets operate under various loads, how they respond to corrosion and how design life can be preserved. The cost-benefit of integrity management in renewables is no different than oil and gas. It could be argued supply chain cost pressures for these services are greater. We have taken our predictive modelling experience, remote data access and process capabilities from our traditional background and we are already applying those methods to the renewables space; resulting in the need for fewer sensors, much lower cost inspection vehicles solutions and more artificial intelligence (AI) applied to data gathered.

You may also be interested in this recent blog from Acteon.

3. ADDRESSING OPERATORS’ DECARBONISATION CHALLENGES

We have noticed an increase in interest from energy operators to decarbonise offshore oil and gas assets through the use of floating offshore wind solutions. Whilst there is a clear benefit to the environment, the challenge is that the CapEx (capital expenditure) outlay required for decarbonised solutions such as floating wind turbines adjacent to a production platform in a challenging financial market, could prove too great a cost to bear without regulations to incentivise such projects. To have the best chance of being economical, the decarbonisation solution required is best served by the simplest of supply chains from design to installation and hook-up. Acteon sees collaboration with appropriate partners, who can gain value from our complete seabed-to-surface solution, as a smart way forward.

What does decarbonisation mean for the oil and gas industry?

As the pressure to act on climate change builds, the industry is beginning to consider a range of options. To help mitigate climate change, the oil and gas sector must reduce its emissions by at least 3.4 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2e) a year by 2050, compared with currently planned policies or technologies; a 90 percent reduction in current emissions. Naturally, as the industry works towards this target, oil and gas use will gradually decline.

4. IMPLEMENTING STANDARDISATION AND INDUSTRIALISATION

Decades of oil and gas project experience has seen Acteon become experts in devising bespoke solutions to address clients’ challenges, however, it has become clear that renewables is more about standardisation and industrialisation.

We see an opportunity to accommodate a more industrialised way of working for renewables through cost-efficiency and leaner delivery of services. For example, some of Acteon’s cost-saving initiatives for mooring provisions in the floating wind arena include the suction embedded plate anchor which combines suction piles and plate anchors to increase the anchor point efficiency of moorings and reduce mooring system costs for floating structures. This makes them cheaper than traditional methods and they also have environmental benefits. Acteon also has a range of proprietary time saving subsea connectors and tensioners.

How has Acteon implemented standardisation?

At Acteon, we understand the offshore renewable industry’s constant need to transform project economics through standardisation, something we have done successfully by bringing modular conductor supported platform solutions for marginal fields as well multiwell, multiclient rigless well abandonment campaigns. These principles will need to be further scaled up and applied to the renewables sector.

5. PERFORMING WHILST WE ARE TRANSFORMING

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a rapid change in the macroenvironment, to which businesses, including Acteon, have had to react quickly to by adjusting their position in the changing market.

By communicating the changing landscape throughout the business and all operating companies, we have gained a better understanding of the dynamics and what we are facing from the market and commercial perspective so that everyone recognises the challenges and how to address them whilst keeping business healthy.

However, the oil and gas market hasn’t suddenly switched off. Despite the challenges brought by Covid-19, Acteon intends to continue to provide a first-class service to our longstanding, loyal customer base. We will continue to perform at our best in this space and whilst doing so, we are evaluating and adapting in real-time how we change our business to facilitate a measured and purposeful transformation into the renewable energy space by working towards industrialisation of projects through lessons learned database and expertise sharing. Acteon aims to be the ‘seabed to surface’ contractor covering the entire renewables lifecycle.

Adaptations made by Acteon include roadmaps for the future, organisational restructure, and reassessment of our market focus to identify where we can add value and retain our commercial position. The focus is now on long term growth and fully transitioning to growing markets such as renewables; we have already been proactive and accentuated our market focus.

The final word:

“We will all have to practice what we preach, which is a mode we are transitioning into”.