First Use of ROV Remote Operations from Shore in the Gulf of Mexico

Abstract

Oil and gas companies across the spectrum are moving toward digitalization. Leveraging technology to access real-time data has allowed companies to streamline activities and gain operational efficiencies while at the same time improving worker safety by reducing the number of personnel required offshore. This evolution optimizes operations by enabling better decision-making by subject matter experts (SMEs) located around the world working as one interconnected team. Functions once performed exclusively by offshore personnel are being carried out today by onshore workers via remote technology. By capitalizing on the ability to communicate offshore via high-speed internet, it is now possible to carry out ROV operations using a team that includes onshore based personnel. A recent project illustrates how ROV activities controlled from an onshore remote operations center in Louisiana were carried out successfully on a production Tension Leg Platform (TLP) in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). The technology used onboard the TLP is not new; operators have been remotely managing a range of functions on offshore assets for years. However, the project does apply this proven approach to ROV piloting operations for the first time commercially in the GoM. Transferring ROV control from the offshore platform to a facility onshore is possible using a communication link that connect real-time data from the offshore asset to the onshore remote operations center (OROC). The two-way communications link provides a redundant system in which controls can be executed either from the offshore platform or from the remote operations center, allowing specialized roles that historically have been executed offshore, including that of the ROV pilot, subsea engineer, and company representative directing the work, to be transferred to a land-based team. The increase in data required from the offshore asset for the GoM project was managed via a dedicated link that provided data transfer at a minimum speed of 3 Mbps upload/download with a fail-safe system that automatically default control to the offshore ROV team in case of any failures in the communication link. Remotely piloting an ROV from shore and coordinating with an offshore crew not only delivered a reduction in HSE exposure but reduced overall personnel costs on the asset by more than 30% for 24 hours of operations. This approach to ROV operations has the potential to reduce costs by reducing the number of workers required offshore even further if additional staff associated exclusively with the project subsea work scope is directed to work remotely from shore.