Oil and gas major Santos will reduce its production emissions with an Australian-first roll out of 100% renewable energy to power its oil well operations in the remote Cooper basin in South Australia and Queensland, following a grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Arena).
The project to convert beam pumps on oil wells to solar and batteries at 56 sites will cost about A$16-million, with Arena contributing A$4.2-million or about 25%.
A pilot solar beam pump has been continuously operating since August, proving that solar photovoltaic and batteries can maintain reliability and availability in the harsh environment of the Cooper basin, the company said on Tuesday.
Following the successful pilot, this project is the next step towards commercialising the technology by providing adequate scale to achieve supply chain and execution synergies and trial multiple vendors to reduce unit costs.
“The solar beam pump will reduce emissions and waste from oil production, saving 140 bbl of oil per day which is required to fuel the pumps, and instead will be sold for beneficial use,” said Santos MD and CEO Kevin Gallagher.
Santos’ own consumption of fuel in the Cooper basin is equivalent to about 5% of east coast domestic gas demand and Gallagher said that extending the use of renewables to its gas operations will free up more natural gas for sale.
Gallagher added that renewables would help reduce costs over time not only by cutting fuel consumption, but also by eliminating the costs of transporting fuel by road over long distances to its wells.
If this initial rollout is successful in commercialising the technology, Santos will look to convert all 208 beam pumps across the Cooper basin to solar and batteries.