Equinor has awarded Aker Solutions with the contract to carry out a feasibility study on its new Mongstad Industrial Transformation project. This project is based in Vestland county, located on the west coast of Norway.

This feasibility study is being performed with the aim of identifying solutions which will help to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emissions being produced from the existing refinery. The study also aims to transform the site into a new low-carbon industry cluster that will demonstrate solutions that are safe, technical and economically feasible.

The project development includes a greenfield facility that will be created in order to use natural and refinery fuel gas to produce blue hydrogen, in a system that will also involve carbon capture and export solution. Alongside this, the study will also focus on a new facility which will produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) that is manufactured from municipal solid waste, that has over 70% reduced emissions.

The overall purpose of Aker Solution’s involvement in these projects, is for the company to provide a feasibility study for both new and existing facilities, including brownfield, greenfield and third-party technologies and all of these components will be examined for options and opportunities around future operations. Furthermore, the point of focusing this project on Mongstad is that it is a medium sized refinery based in Europe and it is currently emitting an estimated 1.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year. Therefore, Equinor chose to have Aker conduct this study, with the hope that the company would find possible ways that the Mongstad refinery could reduce its emissions.

Senior vice president, consultancy at Aker Solutions, Roddy Macpherson, commented, “We are excited to support Equinor on this truly transformational study, maximizing industrial synergies to produce low-carbon solutions and sustainable fuels at a time when decarbonization is very high on the agenda. For decades, we have worked with customers and partners to minimize commercial uncertainty and enable informed decision-making for first-of-a-kind projects across the globe. Building on our strong engineering and construction expertise, and our understanding of the evolving energy system and landscape, we aim to drive change at pace for our customers. The Mongstad study will help to further accelerate Norway’s energy transition, transforming the country’s only remaining oil and gas refinery to create energy sources of the future.”