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TriGen Technology

Maersk Oil and Siemens join forces on clean technology

Maersk Oil moved forward with a unique project that aims to not only enhance oil recovery and unlock stranded gas fields but also generate zero-emission electricity for local populations. The project could unlock promising opportunities for Maersk Oil in the Middle East and South East Asia.

Maersk Oil has rights to an innovative power generator, whose technology is derived from the space industry, which burns gas with pure oxygen to produce electricity, clean water and CO2. The CO2 is captured, making the power generation emission-free, and used for enhanced oil recovery (EOR).

Siemens will be building the turbines specially adapted to the combustion process to significantly increase the efficiency of the electricity produced. The agreement brings on board a world class manufacturer and recognised innovator in the power sector to accelerate deployment of the technology to global markets.

It will help mature the TriGen technology to a stage where it can be used widely and commercially according to Bob Alford, TriGen Project Manager at Maersk Oil.

Our goal is to be able to offer a unique product that for the first time joins oil and gas production together with power generation in one integrated project. This offers not just zero-emission electricity and pure water but also the ability to extract oil and gas that would otherwise be non-producible through EOR/EGR, says Alford.

It is an ideal solution for water-parched Gulf states that have reservoirs that can benefit from CO2 drivenEOR. It is also well suited for countries in South East Asia where many stranded contaminated gas fields could be unlocked using the flexible TriGen technology, he adds.

In the Middle East, Maersk Oil is investigating whether TriGens low cost CO2 can enable EOR projects. Gulf countries in particular have increasingly focused on clean energy, while many of their oil and gas reservoirs are suited for CO2-EOR and nitrogen or CO2 based EGR.

Here, gas would be burned to produce clean power and water for households. Nitrogen, a by-product from the production of pure oxygen, and CO2 would be supplied to oil fields nitrogen to maintain the pressure in depleting reservoirs and CO2 as the EOR agent coaxing out oil that would otherwise not be recovered.

In South East Asia, the value chain starts at a different point at large world class gas fields that lie undeveloped because they are contaminated by CO2. Such stranded gas fields could now potentially be produced economically because the TriGen technology can burn gas contaminated with up to 90% of CO2 without requiring any costly pre-treatment for CO2 removal.

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TriGen Technology

About TriGen

TriGen is a power generator the size of a Maersk shipping container which burns gas with pure oxygen to produce clean power, pure water and reservoir ready carbon dioxide. The high purity CO2 is captured, making the power generation emission-free, and is then transported to oil and gas fields for Enhanced Oil or Gas Recovery (EOR/EGR).

Traditionally, CO2-based EOR has only been feasible in areas with large sources of natural CO2 chiefly in the United States. But the ability to produce CO2 as a by product of a commercial venture now makes CO2based EOR attractive in regions such as the Middle East, which has limited sources of natural CO2.

Maersk Oil realised that the technologys multi-stream output, including its ability to burn CO2contaminated gas as fuel without any pre-treatment, gave it access a number of business opportunities around the world.

About the Maersk Oil-Siemens partnership

Maersk Oil and Siemens signed a Memorandum of Understanding at the 20 World Petroleum Conference, held in Doha, Qatar in December. Under the agreement, Siemens will fund and further develop the oxyfuel turbines over the next 5 years.

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U.S.-based Clean Energy Systems, from whom Maersk Oil acquired licence rights, has proven the TriGen technology on a small scale over that past 15 years. Now, in collaboration with Maersk Oil, Siemens and the U.S. Department of Energy, it is testing TriGen on a commercial-scale power plant in California.

The converted turbine will be hooked up to a power grid in North Los Angeles next year and has the capacity to deliver 150 megawatts of electricity enough to provide energy to over 100,000 homes.

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