dollar investments required to establish viable production fields in deep water, companies have been forced to consider seriously the potential operating efficiencies that can be gained from high capacity digital connectivity. This new outlook presents the submarine cable industry with the opportunity to build closer relationships with an influential sea bed user group; and for the system suppliers in particular, the chance to establish a new client base, as long as they can overcome the design challenges that the oil and gas companies are now laying down. Oil and Gas is a major topic at SubOptic 2007, and this emerging market will be addressed in some detail through, poster sessions, presentations and tutorials. Therefore, this article is intended to share some of the author’s recent experiences in this market sector, as a precursor to the forthcoming discussions.
Optical Systems for Offshore Platforms
By Stewart Ash
Introduction It may surprise some people to learn that, despite the sophisticated engineering involved in the exploration and production of the oil and gas, the leading companies in the industry have taken a conservative approach to the use of telecommunications systems. This is particularly true when it comes to their offshore exploration
and production facilities (Platforms). On the whole they have treated these systems as necessary overheads that have little or no relationship with the cost of bringing oil out of the ground, and therefore investment has been kept to a minimum. However, in order to satisfy ongoing demand, oil and gas production is being forced to move further offshore and attitudes are changing. Given the multi-billion
Connectivity The requirements for telecommunication systems between the shore and offshore oil and gas production Platforms have, in the past, been dominated by the need to provide medium quality voice communication, and the occasional use of video conferencing and or video surveillance. Typically this requirement would be met by systems operating at 2Mbit/s data rates with daily throughputs of < 20Gbits. Where Platforms are close inshore, line of site digital microwave systems were the preferred option. For Platforms, further offshore, satellite systems have traditionally provided the connectivity. Not unless pipelines and or umbilical cables were required to be run ashore, for operational purposes, were fibre connections implemented. As is well known, microwave and satellite systems have their drawbacks; both are weather dependent, particularly in hurricane areas, satellite connections are expensive and both have 18