Season 1 episode 4 - The Return of a North Sea Giant

Flemming Marxen, Offshore Installation Manager, Tyra II, TotalEnergies: The sea is a major force of nature, so it automatically calls for humbleness and respect. The Men at Sea Monument captures that relationship, the four characters looking towards the sea and the waves. Except that this environment cannot be changed. If you want to work out there, you need to understand its strengths and your own limitations.Tyra is a gas hub. It's poured in gas from offshore to shore. The tests for more than 40 years been one of the Titans in the Danish energy system, exporting 90% of Denmark's offshore gas. But ten years ago, that was all at risk.

[Energy Horizon - The return of a North Sea giant]

[Tyra II, Denmark, 2012]

Flemming Marxen: Years ago, during one of the harsh winter storms, we saw breaking waves almost reaching the lower decks. So we realized that Tyra has come too close to the water and we accepted that that was a risk. So here we face the major chance we had to find a way to make tires safe and operational again.

[Approximately €3.5 billion was invested in the redevelopment of Tyra II]

[Approximately 50,000 tons of stee]

[Approximately 98.5% of Tyra I was reused or recycled]

Flemming Marxen: Back in 2020, Total Energies and Danish Underground Consortium began dismantling the old installations. Around 50,000 tons of steel were removed from offshore, corresponding to approximately 5 Eiffel Towers. At the same time, 98 1/2% of the materials were recycled or reused, a level that you rarely see in a product of this size.

[October 2022]

Flemming Marxen: It all peaked when we lifted the 17,000 ton process module on bought, the new tire being the heaviest lift ever conducted at sea.

[2026, Tyra Onshore Control Room, Esbjerg, Denmark]

Flemming Marxen: So how are things going?

Dan Stokbaek, Operation Team Lead, Onshore Control Room, TotalEnergies: It's all good Fleming. We've had safe and steady operations. Hard to believe that Tyra actually is the same after such a major redevelopment. It's also future proof now with around 100,000 data points carrying information from all critical equipment and enabling us to operate and monitor everything from here.

Flemming Marxen: A lot of Tyra is controlled on shore, but you really need to fly offshore to understand the magnitude and complexity of what we have built in the middle of the North Sea. So Katherine, life offshore is very different, but once you don't have to go home after your shift, you stay here for two weeks. We feel very lucky with the new accommodation we have on Tyra. It's very different from when I started my offshore career. At that time we slept 2, sometimes four people in the same room, having bunk beds, and there was no windows like we have today. We work long days, we rely on each other, we also trust each other and we spend the time off in the evenings together doing games, movie nights, go to the gym, we even have a sauna out there. Tyra now process more or less twice the consumption of the entire Denmark.

[TotalEnergies is a global integrates energy company that produces and markets energies (oil and biofuels, natural gas, biogas and low-carbon hydrogen, renewebales and electricity) ans is staying the course of its transition strategy. Learn more: totalenergies.com/energy-transition]

[Generates approximately 6% of EU gas production]

Katarina Masarova, Production Engineer, Tyra II, TotalEnergies: Thanks to Tyra, Denmark produces more gas than it needs. This means that Tyra plays a crucial role in the energy supply for Europe. It generates around 6% of EU gas production and roughly 1% of total consumption. And when we think about the recent disruption to the energy supply, then it becomes clear that the energy independence Tyra offers is now more important than ever.

Flemming Marxen: Europe's energy future won't be built by abandoning the past, but by reimagining it, taking what once powered us and rebuild it into be more efficient, safer and stronger and fit it for the world that we live in today. Tyra helps strengthen our energy independence in uncertain times, like Tyra itself is not a small thing. For me personally, being part of Tyra's second life will always be something I would be proud of.

[Logo TotalEnergies]

©TotalEnergies - September 2026