Tech file Aerial Drones Deliver Offshore
Images courtesy of Ole Jørgen Bratland, Equinor
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n August, Norwegian oil company Equinor successfully sent a drone carrying a 3D-printed cargo from shore to an offshore production platform in the North Sea, in what the company says is a world’s first. The firm, a long-established leader in the use of remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROV), is now also turning to unmanned vehicles in the skies. In a flight spanning around 50 miles from the Mongstad base onshore to the Troll field in the North Sea offshore Norway, the drone carried a 3D-printed part for the lifeboat system. The flight took one hour, at an altitude of approximately 5,000 feet. Drones have been used for a number of offshore and 40 MN
maritime applications, from vessel, platform and wind turbine inspections, to spare part deliveries for cargo ships and vessel emissions detection off the coast of Denmark. BP is using drones equipped with advanced technology originally designed by NASA for use on Mars to remotely monitor methane emissions from its offshore assets in the North Sea, and Turkey says it has been using drones to hunt for hydrocarbons in the eastern Mediterranean. But Equinor says its latest use is new ground for the offshore industry. “The flight was a test, the world’s first of its kind, where an actual freight operation was conducted over a lengthy distance to an operating offshore installation. The drone was a Camcopter s-100 model, manufactured by SchiebSeptember 2020
