Blog:
Navigating the energy sector’s ‘balancing act’
25 May 2022
Commentary by Eirik Renli, CEO, Fishbones AS.
This year we are experiencing significant growth for the company, and we are projecting further growth in 2023. It’s a year which has seen us continue to highlight our efforts to facilitate a more sustainable approach to stimulation.
The entire Fishbones team is passionate and committed to supporting the energy industry’s commitment to lowering carbon emissions. By now, all of those operating in the energy sector will recognise the importance of facing up to the ongoing energy transition. It is the most important factor facing our industry – the responsibility must be placed upon us all to address it with direct change and action.
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)
To support both this and our wider business aims, we have adopted and embraced a robust set of ESG guidelines and goals which we continue to deliver upon.
Safety is always our highest priority and is something that we are constantly monitoring. We keep it top of the agenda by continually performing risk assessments or job safety analysis prior to activities in workshop and field operations. We do this to avoid incidents before they have a chance of arising. This is paired with a detailed set of policies and procedures, illustrating the importance we place on employee and contractor safety onsite and off.
Aligned with this, we look to maintain good physical and mental health for our employees, ensuring that we will always provide a good work and life balance. We also maintain governance and compliance procedures to provide a framework for sustainable operational and strategic growth.
Each piece of our ESG activity is of critical importance, but the ongoing energy transition will require a renewed focus on environmental measures. As part of that, we have introduced a key target in 2022 that implements routines and measures our own operational carbon footprint. This goal has contributed to increased environmental awareness in the Fishbones organization. These measures will be reviewed alongside our end-of-year footprint and will be taken as the baseline for future measurements, ensuring that we continue to meet our environmental targets.
Meeting Net Zero Targets
Within a wider industry context, a significant part of meeting net zero targets will be reviewing how to deliver more sustainable methods of hydrocarbon recovery. By doing so, the industry will go a long way to meeting the ambitious net zero targets that have been set by many key players across the sector.
You may remember that last year we published findings evaluating the relative carbon emissions footprint between our stimulation options and alternative conventional completion techniques. The independent study, which was undertaken by THREE60 Energy, found that CO2 emissions for our stimulation activity was a fraction of alternative practices.
The industry has long recognised the measurable benefits that the use of our technology delivers, including accelerated production and increased flow rates. Alongside this, the knowledge that our solutions require lower energy use and resource consumption is also beginning to resonate.
The Balancing Act
I have often referred to the current energy situation as a balancing act, one which has become even more precarious this year due to ongoing global events.
Published towards the end of last month, I read McKinsey & Company’s ‘Global Energy Perspective 2022’ with interest. It noted that the seismic geopolitical events that are occurring across the world at the moment have led to further energy price increases.
Energy demands have been thrust into the spotlight this year and all of those in the sector carry a duty to fulfil the requirements. But while this will remain increasingly important, we cannot do so in a way that sets back the energy transition.
We remain committed to reducing risk, lowering cost and guaranteeing deep reservoir connectivity, in a way that significantly reduces carbon emissions. By doing so, we will help the industry navigate this challenging balancing act.