DANISH drilling multinational Maersk Drilling has pledged to cut its carbon dioxide emissions in half by 2030 as it looks to boost efficiency from its fleet of deepwater rigs.

Maersk is a major player in the Australian offshore oil and gas industry, alongside Noble Corp and Diamond Offshore, and is currently supplying semisubmersibles for Inpex's upcoming work for the Ichthys field. 

It is the first of its kind to announce such major cuts to emissions. In an announcement on Friday it pledged to halve its emissions from current levels. 

"Climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing our society today, and we want to do our part in addressing this," Maersk chief executive Jørn Madsen said. 

"Expert consensus is that renewable energy will not be able to replace all traditional energy production within the foreseeable future. Therefore, the answer must be to provide affordable energy, including oil and gas, while keeping CO2 emissions under control." 

Maersk's emissions reduction target is in line with most oil and gas companies' 2030 targets and supports the ambitions of the Paris Agreement.

To date the company has managed to upgrade two of its largest jackups to become low-emission rigs with battery storage and energy emission efficient software as well as an emissions capturing system which uses ammonia to convert gas into water and nitrogen. 

Source: Energy News Bulletin

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