Validation of CO2 Emission Reductions from Advanced Vessel Management Solutions by Leveraging the Big Data from Offshore Drilling Operations

This paper details the successful validation process of advanced DP (Dynamic Positioning) and power management tools and solutions through processing big data from offshore drilling operations. Along with outlining the technical details behind the validation process, the paper also describes how these advanced tools can be applied to pursuing industry sustainability goals by reducing the environmental footprint of offshore drilling operations. Implementation of such a validation process will aid drilling operators to select and prioritize among different emission-reducing technologies and by that ensure that the installed solutions are suitable for the operation. The validation mechanism is based on retrieving cloud-stored rig sensor data from the 7th generation drillship operating offshore Angola. The data processing section of the study included data normalization by removing abnormalities in order to establish clean baseline operational parameters to be reproduced by the use of the marine, drilling, and power plant simulators. The combined wind, wave, and climate (metocean) conditions for the entire period were also established and mapped. After validation of the analytical model accuracy, the model was advanced with several layers of advanced DP and power management functionalities in addition to energy storage tools and solutions to evaluate efficiency gains from deploying them individually and combined. Finally, the paper provides a comparison of efficiency gains (versus the clean baseline analytical model), deploying the said tools and solutions where the efficiencies are detailed as an amount of saved fuel, reduced GHG (Greenhouse Gas) emissions, and also reduction of maintenance burden on propulsion and power plant machinery.