We believe that innovative offshore field development solutions will largely focus on the exploitation of hydrocarbons in deep-water and Arctic areas, and areas containing heavy oil. We expect to see an increasing transition from topside to intelligent, remotely-operated, autonomous seabed facilities, coupled with ultra-long, subsea tie-backs and wellstream compression devices. Furthermore, we believe that it will be necessary to develop new drilling concepts, especially in ice-affected areas, and pipelines capable of withstanding ultra-cold and ultra-deep-water conditions.
In connection with the development of onshore extra heavy oil value chains, we plan to place emphasis on improving recovery methods, with particular emphasis on energy efficiency. We expect to focus on water management and carbon capture and storage.
We believe that sound gas chain technology will lead to increased access to "difficult" unconventional gas resources by providing leading-edge capabilities in selected technologies, such as membrane-based separation. We also wish to develop sustainable carbon capture and storage (CCS) value chains.
Environmental technology
We believe that legitimacy, or a 'licence to operate' is a prerequisite for doing business, and to us, this means reducing the negative impact of our activities and products on the environment. We strive to minimise harm to the environment through our operations and respond to the increased awareness of climate change by adopting technology to mitigate the effects that our industry has on the global climate.
The following areas are examples of where we believe technology can make a difference:
- The CO2 value chain
- HSE management
- New energy
We are developing technology to improve the carbon dioxide value chain using experience gained from our CCS projects at Sleipner and Snøhvit on the Norwegian continental shelf and at In Salah in the Algerian desert. We are developing new expertise on safe transport and the storage of CO2. During 2008 we increased our efforts in CO2 capture due to the development of TCM and the CO2 Masterplan for Mongstad.
We have developed tools for environmental management which integrate risk assessment, mitigation measures and environmental monitoring. These tools are used to design and operate our installations and industrial plants. We are working to integrate observatories for monitoring environmental parameters in changes in ecosystems in our present and future infrastructure, in order to improve our environmental management and performance and to provide environmental data for the international scientific community.
We recognise the need to develop new sources of energy, and we' are doing so by pursuing two main paths.
We aim to develop offshore wind turbines, with R&D efforts focused on our floating wind turbine demonstration project, Hywind.
In addition, we are supplying the transport sector with alternatives to fossil fuels which is vital to reducing carbon dioxide emissions, and our R&D efforts are dedicated to developing technology for producing second-generation biofuels and utilising our experience in hydrogen. In 2006, a hydrogen filling station was opened at the Statoil filling station next to our headquarters in Stavanger, and in 2007 a hydrogen fuelling station was set up in Porsgrunn at the R&D centre. We are also working on further developments of the filling procedure which will enable hydrogen vehicles to be refuelled more quickly.
Strengthening oil spill response in the Arctic
In 2008, we established an overall strategy for oil spill preparedness and response for our operations on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS). In this region, the main focus in coming years is on being properly prepared for exploration and production in the north of Norway, including the development of the Goliat field in the Barents Sea. As part of our preparations and the work on revising the Management plan in 2010, we intend to further improve our knowledge about oil spill response. A reliable oil spill response organisation and good cooperation with local players are pre-conditions for opening up for activities in northern areas such as Lofoten and Vesterålen.
The US Geological Survey has estimated that the Arctic contains 22% of the world's undiscovered hydrocarbons, fuelling great optimism in relation to the development of Arctic resources. Our main focus is on developing technology that will enable safe and sustainable exploration, field development, and operation in Arctic areas. This aims to ensure that operations in Arctic areas will not carry higher risks - to people, the environment or assets - than would be acceptable in more temperate areas such as the North Sea environment. We are focusing on technological developments to reduce the risk of all kinds of actual and potential discharges to sea and emissions to air.
Environmental monitoring
As we move into new areas, deeper waters and onshore, we encounter new and different challenges relating to environmental monitoring. Solutions are needed for monitoring the direct impact from our operations.
For the past three years, the objective of our R&D activities has been to develop a flexible '"toolbox" for environmental monitoring, to help us meet future needs for improved understanding, documentation and management of environmental impacts from emissions and discharges, utilising sensor technology, improved conventional methodology and existing infrastructure.
