Halliburton
and BP Norway break barrier in real time operations
Posted: 05 May 2004
Companies work onshore to complete first offshore cement
job using only remote control
Halliburton and BP Norway recently programmed and completed the
first offshore cementing job using only remote control technology
in an onshore operations center 211 miles (340 km) away from the
project.
The three-person Halliburton team accomplished the task from BP's
Onshore Operations Center in Stavanger, Norway, for BP Norge AS
which operates the water injection platform in the Valhall field
in the southern part of the Norwegian North Sea.
"This is really breaking a new barrier for us in terms of
taking remote control of offshore operations to a new dimension,"
explained John Gibson, President and Chief Executive Officer of
Halliburton's Energy Services Group.
"We now are moving quickly toward our vision of being able
to control and monitor most operations and processes from the beach,"
added Audun Bjordal, Halliburton's Fluids Division country manager
in Scandinavia.
Halliburton delivered and placed into operation in late 2003 the
onboard equipment and software to enable full remote control of
the cement equipment. The equipment, in combination with the Cementing
Control System from BP's DrillView software, enabled the cementing
unit to be fully controlled from any location.
"We are very proud to have been part of breaking this barrier,"
added Pal Tybero, BP drilling superintendent at the Valhall Field.
"We wanted to do this in connection with the Valhall development
and it proved to work flawlessly."
Prior to this first onshore-controlled cement operation, cement
jobs have been performed from a control room located on the platform,
but one deck above the cement equipment. In these cases, the offshore
operator remotely controls the cement mixing and pumping via a screen
in the control room. In order to enable communications with operators
now working onshore, the platform's equipment is connected to the
onshore operations center through a double fiber optic cable which
eliminates time delays for remote control over long distances.
In the onshore operations center, the operator has a workstation
with two DrillView screens in addition to the center's live video
screens which display live video feeds from cameras located in and
around the offshore equipment. There is telephone as well as UHF
radio communications between the operator and the platform.
Halliburton, founded in 1919, is one of the world's largest providers
of products and services to the petroleum and energy industries.
The company serves its customers with a broad range of products
and services through it Energy Services and Engineering and Construction
Groups.
For more information see www.halliburton.com
Posted by Richard Price,
Editor Pipeline Magazine
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