Offshore drilling contractor Transocean has deployed what is said to be the world's first hybrid energy storage system onboard a floating drilling rig. The system is now operational on the Transocean Spitsbergen platform, involved in drilling operations at the Snorre field in Norway.

Transocean said Wednesday that its patented hybrid power technology, developed in partnership with Aspin Kemp and Associates, reduces fuel consumption and increases station maintenance reliability from a dynamically positioned platform by capturing energy generated during operations. platform normals that would otherwise go to waste and storing it in batteries.

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That energy is then used to power the platform's thrusters. This major operational and safety enhancement targets a 14% reduction in fuel usage during normal operations, leading to a significant reduction in NOx and CO2 emissions, according to the platform owner.

Transocean's investment is funded in part through fuel economy incentives in its contract with Equinor and the Norwegian NOx Fund.

“This first-ever hybrid power upgrade will further increase the reliability of our operations while simultaneously reducing fuel consumption, operating costs and our environmental footprint,” said Jeremy Thigpen, President and CEO.

“We are pleased and proud to be working together with Equinor to identify and jointly implement more efficient and sustainable technologies to deliver high value wells to the industry.”

Remember that Siemens said last December that it would supply a battery-powered energy storage solution to the semi-submersible West Mira and transform it into “the world's first hybrid offshore drilling rig”.

Siemens said BlueVault, the company's advanced lithium-ion battery-based solution, would be installed on Northern Drilling's West Mira offshore drilling rig, which is expected to operate in Campo Nova, approximately 120 kilometers northwest of Bergen in the North Sea.

Furthermore, in May last year, Maersk Drilling would convert its Maersk Intrepid jack-up to a hybrid platform. The jack-up has gone through a series of upgrades to convert it into a hybrid platform with low levels of NOx emissions, adding data intelligence to further reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions.

Maersk Intrepid in September signed an extension with Equinor for further work on the Martin Linge field. During the contract period, Maersk Drilling said it would complete a series of upgrades to the Maersk Intrepid to transform it into the low-emission hybrid rig.