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Future Energy with Technology and operational skills (FETOS)

To achieve the goals of future energy (we all know what they are) we will need people with operational skills working together with technology.

In the energy industry we have always had plenty of talk about 'technology' and plenty of talk about 'skills'. But it could be more useful, and enable us to achieve future energy goals faster, if we could learn to talk about skills and technology TOGETHER.

For example, managing assurance of CO2 sequestration involves both technology and operational skill working together.

"Rolling up" complex emissions data, such as to compare emissions from LNG imports with pipeline gas, requires both digital technology and operational skill.

Getting a picture of fugitive methane emissions of a facility, using a mixture of technologies and data, requires technology and operational skills.

The same for other major challenges we have today in the molecular energy industry - continued energy efficient and low cost hydrocarbon production, designing low cost geothermal projects, flow assurance in CO2 projects, working with archive and public exploration data, defining a long term digital technology strategy, managing production operations to operate at minimum fuel consumption, supporting situation awareness of equipment operators. .

For Autumn 2024 / Spring 2025, we are planning a series of webinars exploring this theme further. 



DOING EXPLORATION BETTER HELPED BY TECHNOLOGY - new ways to better understand the subsurface - characterise reservoirs and understand production viability
See our planned webinar


USING SURFACE GEOCHEMISTRY FOR EXPLORATION AND CO2 STORAGE - how can the data generated by surface geochemistry be used to better understand what is happening in the subsurface?
See our planned webinar


GEOTHERMAL the skills and technologies to plan a profitable geothermal project.


DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY - getting beyond products to something well mapped against what you want; developing shareable blueprints - taking a longer range view, how the technology infrastructure will support you and your staff for decades to come.


DEVELOPING COUNTRY OIL AND GAS DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS - since developing countries want to develop their hydrocarbon reserves before thinking about net zero. What specific technologies are helpful here - particularly onshore exploration technologies which can work in difficult terrain?

OPERATIONAL DECISION MAKING SUPPORT - for people who run production operations, who need to maintain reliable operations, select purchases, reduce operational fuel requirement, be able to operate with fewer pumps and generators.

SUPPORTING SITUATION AWARENESS IN OPERATIONS - tools which can help people understand their domain better so they can develop skills to learn how it works. This can be done with dashboards, simulation tools and digital twins

WORKING WITH OPERATIONAL EMISSION DATA how can we better 'roll up' emissions data from complex activities, to get 'basic' data such as to compare emissions from LNG vs emissions from pipeline gas?

MEASURING AND MANAGING DATA ABOUT FUGITIVE EMISSIONS, PARTICULARLY METHANE. This can be done with new technologies for drone emission measurement, and other methane emission developments

CO2 STORAGE TECHNOLOGY - characterising reservoirs and making sure CO2 stays there. What range of technologies is most suitable for getting insight into where CO2 is going into the subsurface, without the enormous costs of repeated (4D) full scale seismic surveys? 



TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONAL SKILLS BREAKS DOWN IN AT LEAST FOUR WAYS

1) How does technology support the situation awareness of people in operational roles so they can make better decisions and continually improve their understanding of their domain?

2) How well do people understand the technology (and how understandable is it)?

3) Are we taking a strategic view of how we bring technology and human skills together with systems which can serve our organisation and continue to evolve over decades? (Or are we purchasing products which meet immediate needs and not thinking beyond that?)

4) Is the real world and its goals 'persisted' into the technologies themselves, including in ways which are not obvious to technology developers?

This sounds complicated but it is exactly what happens in the car manufacturing industry and nobody thinks twice. A car supports the situation awareness of the driver; the car's technologies are understandable to people who need to understand them; car manufacturers take a long term strategic view of technology; and elements of the real world are persisted into the technology world, such as where cars are designed to look good and boost the owner's status, not just to function well as machines.

Going further perhaps we can say that maturity in a technology / operational skills implementation means having all four at once.


If you are interested in speaking at a webinar please contact Karl Jeffery on jeffery@d-e-j.com

CARBON CAPTURE AND TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONAL SKILLS
 

The success of the CCUS industry, once it reaches the operational stage, will come down to whether the industry is perceived to be delivering what it promised - that is, CO2 permanently and safely stored at the expected costs, and an industry which can thrive and grow, while the renewable energy industry develops alongside.
 
CCUS critics say it is dangerous, expensive, not commercially viable, does not deliver on its promises, and only exists to perpetuate the fossil fuel industry. 
 
They must not be given ammunition for their arguments.
 
So far, work on CCS has nearly all been about planning projects. Where technology is used for planning projects, it might be conventional engineering design software, and probably a lot of spreadsheets.
 
but now we move to the operational stage, we will want to see digital technologies used in different ways. 
 
But digital technologies by themselves will not solve anything - they must be used in combination with human skills. This is something which needs to be worked out. 
 
 
SAFETY: 
Avoiding leaks in CO2 transport. Requires management of asset integrity of pipelines and processing equipment.
Managing Co2 capture systems to avoid amine emissions to air. Requires monitoring and simulation tools.
Managing flow to avoid hydrates forming as CO2 expands / reduces pressure, both in pipelines and reservoirs. Requires simulation and modelling tools.
Monitoring Co2 flows in the subsurface.
 
OPERATING COSTS:
Monitoring and managing energy consumption of capture systems.
Monitoring energy consumption of compressors.
Planning transportation systems as we move to 'non pipeline transport' including maritime and rail tank cars. 
Managing costs of subsurface seismic monitoring.
 
CROSS CHAIN RISKS:
With cluster systems, emitters need ways to continue capturing when some storage locations are not available, and storage sites need ways to continue injecting when emitters are not providing Co2. Requires management of the overall system.
 

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FEATURED VIDEO

Getting UKCS and NOCS Developments Right!
by Graham Scotton from University of Manchester


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KEY SUPPORTERS

We are planning a further webinars program for 2024 -
If you may have an interesting story to share, please contact
Karl Jeffery on jeffery@d-e-j.com