Solar
Power
for Sustainable Offshore Petroleum Exploration and Production in Africa
Abstract
A substantial percentage of Africa's upstream petroleum activity occurs offshore in high risk environments with attendant environmental concerns. Power
demands on offshore rigs are met principally through the use of diesel engines and gas turbines. This adds to the already high safety hazards and environmental threat through greenhouse gas emissions, heat and noise generation. Additionally, petroleum generated
power
is an expensive venture that can have significant impact on oil and gas project economics. Moreover, some of these offshore locations are so remote that accessibility to petroleum fuel may be challenging. As petroleum exploration and production pushes steadily into deeper, farther waters especially in sub-Saharan Africa, safety, environmental and logistical security may be key for sustainability. Situated almost entirely within the tropics, Africa is a very suitable place for solar energy applications. This study assesses the potential of solar
power
for offshore oil and gas operations in Africa to mitigate the issues associated with the use of fossil fuel thereby ensuring sustainability of the upstream petroleum industry in Africa. The size of the solar
power
system that may meet the
power
requirement of a sample floating storage and production vessel (FPSO) in offshore Angola was estimated. Appropriate areas and extent of potential solar
power
application on this sample rig were also assessed. This was followed by some cost analysis to compare the two sources of
power
economically. It was found that solar
power
can currently provide only a small part of the
power
needed on offshore rigs primarily due to lack of space and weight restrictions.
AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90267 ©2016 AAPG/SPE Africa Energy and Technology Conference, Nairobi City, Kenya, December 5-7, 2016