I had the honour of speaking to Clare Miszewska, co-CEO of AnTech, about how cross sector collaboration and existing technology can help drive the energy transition forward
Clare Miszewska knows a lot about the innovative use of technology. Alongside her brother she is co-CEO of AnTech, offering proprietary solutions within the energy industry. AnTech provides specialist Coiled Tubing Drilling (CTD) services, offering a safer and faster continuous-pipe drilling alternative to conventional methods. I spoke to her about the important role traditional technologies play in enabling the renewable energy transition, and how AnTech’s existing capabilities can be applied to emerging sectors such as geothermal, hydrogen, and carbon capture and storage (CCS).
How Existing Technology Can Facilitate the Energy Transition
Clare began our conversation by making it clear that existing AnTech technology has multiple uses across both the fossil fuel and renewable energy industries. She is enthusiastic about the potential applications of AnTech technology across four out of five developing markets of the energy transition: ‘We can use our directional drilling services for things like geothermal mining and well electronics, carbon capture and storage and hydrogen drilling. It’s all the same technology that we already have, so a lot of the focus in these conversations with possible clients is that we don’t need to reinvent anything.’ She added that AnTech drilling tools can also mine for critical minerals essential to the battery storage systems that are the backbone of the energy transition.
A core focus of AnTech’s drilling technology is the revitalisation of existing wells, significantly reducing the need for new exploration. CTD delivers a smaller environmental footprint, and Clare highlights that the drilling fluids are fully contained within a closed-loop system. Although a supporter of the energy transition, she is also realistic about the continued demand for fossil fuels: ‘There’s still going to be a small proportion of fossil fuels that will be needed even when we reach Net Zero. It’s about trying to get the right transition internally within the business to make sure that we are supporting the industry in as many ways as we can.’ Clare discussed how AnTech is an industry leader in the supply of well-head outlets for the monitoring of oil and gas wells. This is also important for those moving towards Net Zero as the business is seeing customers beginning to purchase them for CCS requirements.
Raising Awareness of the Different Uses of Existing Energy Technology
AnTech has a well-established product line in technologies that serve the oil and gas industry. Clare wants to bring attention to how these products can serve companies in ways that drive the energy transition. She welcomes the media attention on the move towards a greener future and is keen to raise awareness of the alternative uses that existing technology can serve. She adds that a large benefit of this approach is that it saves money, because it doesn’t involve reinventing the wheel, only using it for a slightly different application than might have been its original purpose: ‘It’s mature technology, but what is new is people’s understanding of how this can be used in the energy transition. You don’t have to reinvent anything to get the result you are hoping for.’
Our conversation moves onto the specific areas of the energy transition in which the AnTech product portfolio could be applied. She explains that her team is learning alongside her customer base as the AnTech wellhead outlets are requested for hydrogen and carbon storage projects: ‘In normal oil and gas environments where they are being used all the time, it’s quite easy to specify. The problem that we’re having is a lot of the customers don’t always know exactly what the temperature and pressure specification is required.’ Hydrogen and carbon storage applications are new territory for both AnTech and their customers. Clare describes how her team helps specify the wellhead outlets for these new applications. She also touches on the use of CTD drilling for geothermal purposes.
The Importance of Cross Sector Collaboration in the Energy Transition
Clare is particularly keen to raise the awareness within the energy transition sector of the available technologies already on the market. She fears that the dichotomy between the fossil fuel industry and the renewable energy sector shuts down conversations and delays essential collaboration between the two: ‘It’s automatically assumed that fossil fuels are bad, and the companies that are providing technology for that market don’t have anything to bring. Some people just don’t want to talk to you because you’re part of the oil and gas industry. They have little or no awareness of how that technology could be used in a different way entirely to help that sector move forward.’ It is for this reason that Clare is focused on raising the profile of AnTech, educating and collaborating across sectors.
Another focus area for Clare is to build partnerships with local councils looking into energy transition projects. She is also keen to bring the potential applications of AnTech technology to the attention of the companies driving forward geothermal, hydrogen and CCS. She is determined to build a network of partners that places AnTech in a position to participate in tenders for energy transition projects. Our conversation ends on a final note about the importance of collaboration: ‘There are a lot of people in the oil and gas market who are able to put their brains to different areas of the industry, and we mustn’t shut that off.’
‘It’s mature technology, but what is new is people’s understanding of how this can be used in the energy transition. You don’t have to reinvent anything to get the result you are hoping for’
