Geo-data specialist Fugro stated it’s finishing up a complete floor investigation for a ground-breaking new CO2 freeway, off the coast of Belgium. The contract is a part of a 1,000-kilometre-long deliberate pipeline by Equinor to move CO2 between mainland Europe and Norway. Bringing massive scale CO2 storage to European business, this mission could possibly be a game-changer for CO2 transport and storage in northwestern Europe.
With an formidable goal to come back onstream in 2030, it’s very important to keep away from delays resulting from poor design based mostly on incorrect and unsuitable Geo-data. Fugro has been chosen to amass prime quality information that may enable Equinor to shortly calculate floor threat and scale back uncertainty.
The bottom investigation is being carried out by WaveWalker; Fugro’s modern, liveaboard jack-up platform. Jack-up barges are ideally suited to tasks in shallow waters, making WaveWalker an efficient resolution for the positioning’s coastal location in Zeebrugge, Belgium.
WaveWalker can function in a variety of climate situations, permitting Fugro to mobilise on the mission within the winter of 2024 whereas mitigating schedule and value dangers related to opposed winter climate operations. Security and operational effectivity are enhanced by lowering wave interference because the jack-up’s legs are mounted to the seabed and the necessity for time-consuming crew modifications are eradicated as workers can dwell aboard.
Previous to the positioning works, Fugro carried out a seek for unexploded ordnance to make sure WaveWalker could possibly be safely deployed and guarantee feasibility for the complete floor investigation scope. This contains geotechnical borehole drilling, high-quality sampling, and downhole cone penetration assessments (CPT). The bottom investigation will present Equinor with insights for the event of the landfall, and for deep pipeline burial underneath the Scheur ship channel, that are very important to make sure protected and environment friendly set up of the CO2 pipeline.
This contract award comes off the again of the profitable marine geotechnical marketing campaign Fugro accomplished earlier this yr. Two vessels have been deployed in August, first Fugro Galaxy, performing CPT and Vibrocore sampling alongside the CO2 freeway route. Fugro Meridian then took over to finish the deep-water sections.
Matthew Chappell, Regional Nearshore Service Line Director Europe and Africa: “This is a fantastic opportunity for our Fugro teams across Europe to deliver critical data acquisition works for Equinor, especially within the pioneering CCUS sector which aligns with our mission to help create a safe and liveable world.”
The 1000 km lengthy CO₂ pipeline is deliberate to start out from CO₂ hubs in Zeebrugge, Belgium and Dunkirk, France, related to storage wells on the Norwegian continental shelf. Fugro’s geotechnical work is a part of the maturation of the mission forward of a possible funding resolution.
