With the goal of making the Danish oil and gas production more effective and environmentally friendly, the SCAVOP (SCAVenger OPtimisation) project has received financial support from EUDP’s North Sea Fund, to examine how operators and onshore refineries can reduce operation costs and the use of chemicals.

The use of scavengers – a chemical compound employed in the production and processing of oil and gas - is the largest contributor to the operational costs for all used chemicals. Scavengers are added to minimise the effect of the corrosive and harmful chemical hydrogen sulphide (H2S) that exists as a natural and unwanted by-product in many oil and gas reservoirs globally.

However, due to a poor understanding of the scavenger process, surplus scavenger is required to achieve the desired results. Reducing the amount of scavengers is therefore an important step towards minimising the environmental impact from oil and gas production, as the unspent scavenger can cause environmental harm when following produced water streams, which are discharged to the sea.

“This project is a very important step towards understanding the chemical reactions that take place and how they affect production. Understanding the process is extremely valuable when you are to establish operational guidelines for oil and gas facilities and improve production through optimising the use of scavengers”, says Anders Andreasen, Ramboll.

Innovation and collaboration across the value chain

Ramboll will contribute to the project by translating the knowledge and academic input and convert it into operational guidelines that can benefit production on-site.

“There is no doubt that when industrial partners and universities team up, this allows for an even stronger position to create innovative solutions. By adding knowledge of the industry and close dialogue with our clients and their business, we can contribute to making the project more applicable and adaptable to business requirements”, adds Anders Andreasen.

The SCAVOP project is also nominated for Energy Innovation Cluster’s Innovation Award 2019, which celebrates the forces that work towards furthering innovative solutions within energy production.

The project is a collaboration between Aalborg University and key industry partners with participation from Ramboll, TOTAL E&P Denmark A/S, A/S Dansk Shell and Pieter Mouritsen A/S. The project is facilitated by Energy Innovation Cluster and will commence in May 2019 and will continue until 2022.