Sustainable offshore oil and gas fields development: Techno-economic feasibility analysis of wind–hydrogen–natural gas nexus

Abstract

Offshore oil and gas field development consumes quantities of electricity, which is usually provided by gas turbines. In order to alleviate the emission reduction pressure and the increasing pressure of energy saving, governments of the world have been promoting the reform of oil and gas fields for years. Nowadays, environmentally friendly alternatives to provide electricity are hotspots, such as the integration of traditional energy and renewable energy. However, the determination of system with great environmental and economic benefits is still controversial. This paper proposed a wind–hydrogen–natural gas nexus (WHNGN) system for sustainable offshore oil and gas fields development. Combining the optimization model with the techno-economic evaluation model, a comprehensive evaluation framework is established for techno-economic feasibility analysis. In addition to WHNGN system, another two systems are designed for comparison, including the traditional energy supply (TES) system and wind–natural gas nexus (WNGN) system. An offshore production platforms in Bohai Bay in China is taken as a case, and the results indicate that: (i) WNGN and WHNGN systems have significant economic benefits, total investment is decreased by 5,190 and 5,020 million $ respectively, and the WHNGN system increases 4,174 million $ profit; (ii) WNGN and WHNGN systems have significant environmental benefits, annual carbon emission is decreased by 15 and 40.2 million kg respectively; (iii) the system can be ranked by economic benefits as follows: WHNGN>WNGN>TES; and (iV) the WHNGN system is more advantageous in areas with high hydrogen and natural gas sales prices, such as China, Kazakhstan, Turkey, India, Malaysia and Indonesia.