Robotics/unmanned systems
The SPE Ecuador Section brought the excitement of robotics and energy education to life through an intensive 1-day Energy4me training, reaching 1,324 children from rural Quito.
The company has installed an autonomous drone system on Aker BP’s Edvard Grieg platform in the North Sea, enabling frequent, remote inspections from shore.
The USV Challenger will be remotely controlled from shore and will be equipped with multiple autonomous features.
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As part of its IntelligentEngine project, researchers from Rolls-Royce have announced their plans to develop snake- and insect-swarm-inspired robots that will crawl inside engines to carry out inspections and perform maintenance. The snake-like robot could access an engine in the manner of an endoscope and then deliver a swarm of miniature robots (around 10mm in diame… -
Venture groups spend their time evaluating hundreds of companies each year to only make a handful of investments. These two cover interesting ends of the upstream spectrum: aerial drones and downhole artificial lift.
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Aerial surveillance of oil and gas operations can help in decision-making and lead to quick and appropriate responses to deal with potentially detrimental matters.
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As operators look for cost-efficient ways to address the challenges in facility maintenance and deepwater exploration, autonomous underwater vehicles are being developed for complex data gathering and advanced tasks.
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Ground sensors on assets over a broad area have limited returns on investment if the asset life cycle is less than 10 years, and obsolescence of the technology if it exceeds 10 years. Complementing sensors with aerial remote sensing at scale may help to mitigate these issues.
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Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are lightweight, low-cost aircraft platforms operated from the ground that can be outfitted with imaging or nonimaging payloads. UASs offer health, safety, and environment professionals a promising opportunity to reduce risks by keeping people out of harm’s way.
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Advanced AUVs with early-stage technologies for live streaming, ultrasonic testing, and 3D laser scanning are set to enter inspection trials on North Sea facilities. The aim is to reduce facilities inspection costs by 50%.
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An 18-month project will develop and trial a mobile robot for autonomous operational inspection of Total facilities.
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Kotug, a Rotterdam-based marine services company involved with projects such as Shell’s Prelude FLNG and the decommissioning of the Brent Delta topsides, has applied for a patent to use drone technology in its tug operations.
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Iraq plans to use drones to monitor and protect its oil export and production pipelines from the first quarter of 2018, an oil ministry spokesman said on 18 December.
