OTC 2011 - Upstream publication

For our eyes only: Top Side Offshore Technology

All eyes on safety

Extra pairs of eyes – in this case mechanical – are watching out for safety lapses on floating platforms and rigs, according to Netherlands-based Top Side Offshore Technology.

Top Side’s cameras can be found on deep-water drilling rigs and floating production platforms, including FPSOs. The company has sold cameras to Allseas, Petrobras, Maersk Drilling, Transocean, Diamond Offshore, Ensco and SBM. Shell has installed dozens of different sizes and types of cameras everywhere from the tip of crane booms to the monkeyboard on its tension-leg platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. “We supplied some equipment to BP Mad Dog (spar), we did the Noble Danny Adkins, the Noble Jim Day,” Top Side managing director Arie Rolloos said today at the OTC conference in Houston. “We did Thunder Horse.”

“You can look at the moon pool, the shakers, not only viewing but also recording,” said Top Side International Account Manager Mark van Hoven. “If something happens they want to have it recorded so they can look it up later on for safety purposes and for lessons learned.”

“The amount of incidents on a rig is dropping dramatically,” Rolloos claimed. “Because people are aware if they make a mistake other people will see it.” Up to 100 cameras could be installed on a single deep-water production platform or drilling rig, Rolloos said. “They want to view all the areas,” Rolloos said. “And because there are less people to do all the inspections, instead of sending people down, they use cameras.”

The cameras are almost always on. Some are designed to begin recording when motion detectors are activated if personnel have entered an area, for example. The video is transmitted over the internet by satellite, which means a very wide bandwidth is necessary. Enough floaters are now equipped with battery-operated cameras that the next time one is caught in a hurricane live frames of the whirly winds and whipped-up waves can be seen live or watched later. Top Side is also a part owner of San Diego-based Sidus, which makes cameras for remotely operated vehicles and other subsea applications.

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Anthony Guegel , Published: 03 May 2011 17:58 GMT  | Last updated: 03 May 2011 19:26 GMT