Robots in the offshore oil and gas industries: a review of recent developments

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Bogue
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Autonomous Underwater Vehicles ◽  
Operating Costs ◽  
Short Introduction ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Inspection And Maintenance ◽  
Offshore Oil And Gas ◽  
Offshore Oil

Purpose This paper aims to provide details of recent developments in robots aimed at applications in the offshore oil and gas industries. Design/methodology/approach Following a short introduction, this first discusses developments to remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). It then describes the Total-sponsored Autonomous Robot for Gas and Oil Sites (ARGOS) robot challenge. This is followed by a discussion of the Offshore Robotics for Certification of Assets (ORCA) programme. Finally, brief concluding comments are drawn. Findings Subsea residency and other techniques are being developed that will enhance the availability and capabilities of AUVs and ROVs and reduce their operating costs. Mobile robots that can operate in harsh topside rig environments to monitor and detect hazards arose from ARGOS and are being developed further prior to commercialisation. Bringing together academics and users, the collaborative ORCA programme is making significant progress in the development of aerial, topside and underwater robotic and sensing technologies for rig asset inspection and maintenance. Originality/value This paper identifies and describes key development activities that will stimulate the use of robots by the offshore industries.

Synthetic Aperture Sonar Technology Review

2013 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 117-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy Edgar Hansen
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Synthetic Aperture ◽  
Marine Research ◽  
Synthetic Aperture Sonar ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Sonar Imaging ◽  
Offshore Oil And Gas ◽  
Search For Objects ◽  
Offshore Oil ◽  
The Military

AbstractSonar imaging has numerous applications in the underwater domain. High-resolution sonar images are useful in marine research, underwater construction work, offshore oil and gas, search for objects, and in the military sector. Common in many applications is the desire for higher resolution, better image quality, longer range, and smaller hardware footprint. Synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) technology can improve resolution and/or range substantially compared to traditional technology. Recent developments in SAS make this technology more available now. This paper gives a review of SAS technology and shows example of SAS applications. The paper lists the current state-of-the-art and the future trends of SAS.

Oil optimism may face headwinds in Guyana

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Oil Prices ◽  
Economic Environment ◽  
Oil Exploration ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Border Dispute ◽  
Offshore Oil And Gas ◽  
Offshore Oil ◽  
Exploration Activity

Subject The outlook for offshore oil. Significance A recent offshore oil and gas find has given Guyana hope of becoming a significant oil producer. However, while this and an earlier find are encouraging and further exploration is planned, the current uncertain economic environment and fluctuating oil prices suggest that bringing these finds into production is not guaranteed. Impacts Oil exploration activity may prompt a flare-up of the continuing border dispute with Venezuela. A major offshore oil find would have a very significant impact on Guyana's GDP of some 4 billion dollars. However, over-optimism could lead to borrowing against an expected future windfall, or the temptation to prioritise 'vanity' projects.

Israeli-Lebanese offshore gas race may raise tensions

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Political Pressure ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Oil And Gas Exploration ◽  
Offshore Oil And Gas ◽  
Political Uncertainties ◽  
Offshore Oil

Significance The bids came from Greece’s Energean, an existing investor, and a consortium of Indian firms; there was little wider international interest. Neighbouring Lebanon’s first offshore oil and gas exploration round, which closed on October 12, was similarly disappointing, with just two bids received from one consortium consisting of France’s Total, Italy’s Eni and Russia’s Novatek. Impacts Political uncertainties following the resignation of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri could slow hydrocarbons exploration. The Lebanese government will be under domestic political pressure from NGOs to ensure transparency in its award of exploration licences. Israel will launch further bid rounds for the remaining blocks, but these are unlikely to produce a different result.

The Chinese robot industry

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Bogue
Keyword(s):  
Automotive Industry ◽  
Financial Incentives ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Research Effort ◽  
Short Introduction ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Foreign Companies ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
The Government ◽  
Insight Into

Purpose This paper aims to provide an insight into China’s rapidly developing robot industry. Design/methodology/approach Following a short introduction, this paper first provides a market perspective and then identifies the key user industries and gives examples of applications. The robot supply companies are considered and details are provided for some of the more important. The research effort is then discussed, together with some examples of recent developments. Finally, conclusions are drawn. Findings The Chinese robot market is the largest in the world although the robot density remains far lower than that of many other industrialised nations. Major users include the electrical and electronics sector and the automotive industry, together with growing applications in the burgeoning hospitality and logistics sectors. Markets are presently dominated by foreign companies, but the government has ambitious plans to boost domestic production, and with the aid of financial incentives, the number of Chinese robot manufactures has recently increased dramatically. The country’s robot research effort is diverse and wide ranging and benefits from significant levels of government funding. China is ultimately expected to become a major force within the global robot business. Originality/value This illustrates the growing importance of robots in China, both in its industries and as a robot manufacturer.

India-Israel defence ties will deepen

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Strategic Partnership ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Oil And Gas Exploration ◽  
Oil And Natural Gas ◽  
Defence Cooperation ◽  
Offshore Oil And Gas ◽  
Offshore Oil

Subject Indian-Israeli cooperation in defence trade and manufacturing. Significance Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel in July raised relations between the two countries to what was described in a joint statement as a "strategic partnership". Defence cooperation featured in talks between Modi and his Israeli counterpart Binyamin Netanyahu. Impacts India will struggle to meet its target of reducing imported defence products by 40% within the next ten years. India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation is likely to bid for Israeli offshore oil-and-gas exploration blocks. Closer relations between India and Iran may raise concerns in Israel.

Oil hopes could distract Bahrain from urgent reforms

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Performance ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Credit Rating ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Medium Term ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Gulf States ◽  
Offshore Oil And Gas ◽  
Oil Wealth ◽  
Offshore Oil

Subject Hydrocarbons in Bahrain’s economy. Significance A potentially game-changing offshore oil and gas discovery could offer fresh hope for Bahrain’s weak public finances and broader economic woes. The find, announced in April, comes at a time when -- although its recent economic performance has been stronger than anticipated -- there has been medium-term stagnation in some of the sectors at the heart of Manama’s diversification efforts. Impacts Renewed gas production could render obsolete the liquefied natural gas import terminal due for completion in 2019. The hope of new oil wealth could support an upgrade in Bahrain’s credit rating and lower borrowing costs. Neighbouring Gulf states may be increasingly less inclined to make valuable grants, after reports of newfound oil wealth.

Scaling procedure for designing accidental gas release experiment

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Moscatello ◽  
Anna Chiara Uggenti ◽  
Gaetano Iuso ◽  
Domenic D'Ambrosio ◽  
Gioacchino Cafiero ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wind Tunnel ◽  
Wind Velocity ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Experimental Setup ◽  
Gas Release ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Real Size ◽  
Offshore Oil And Gas ◽  
Offshore Oil

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a procedure to design an experimental setup meant to validate an innovative approach for simulating, via computational fluid dynamics, a high-pressure gas release from a rupture (e.g. on an offshore oil and gas platform). The design is based on a series of scaling exercises, some of which are anything but trivial. Design/methodology/approach The experimental setup is composed of a wind tunnel, the instrumented scaled (1:10) mock-up of an offshore platform and a gas release system. A correct scaling approach is necessary to define the reference speed in the wind tunnel and the conditions of the gas release to maintain similarity with respect to the real-size phenomena. The scaling of the wind velocity and the scaling of the gas release were inspired by the approach proposed by Hall et al. (1997): a dimensionless group was chosen to link release parameters, wind velocity and geometric scaling factor. Findings The theoretical scaling approaches for each different part of the setup were applied to the design of the experiment and some criticalities were identified, such as the existence of a set of case studies with some release parameters laying outside the applicability range of the developed scaling methodology, which will be further discussed. Originality/value The resulting procedure is one of a kind because it involves a multi-scaling approach because of the different aspects of the design. Literature supports for the different scaling theories but, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, fails to provide an integrated approach that considers the combined effects of scaling.

Underwater robots: a review of technologies and applications

2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 186-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Bogue
Keyword(s):  
Deep Sea ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Autonomous Underwater Vehicle ◽  
Underwater Robot ◽  
Remotely Operated Vehicle ◽  
Underwater Robots ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Offshore Oil And Gas ◽  
Offshore Oil ◽  
Oil And Gas Sector

Purpose This paper aims to provide details of underwater robot technology and its applications. Design/methodology/approach Following an introduction, this article first discusses remotely operated vehicle (ROV) technology and applications and then considers their use in the emerging field of deep-sea mining. It then discusses autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) technology and its applications, including sub-sea gliders. Finally, brief concluding comments are drawn. Findings ROVs were first developed in the 1950s for military applications. They are now widely used by the offshore oil and gas sector and other industries and are being developed for deep-sea mining. AUV technology has progressed rapidly in recent years and AUVs, including sub-sea gliders, are now emerging from their original role in oceanographic research and finding growing uses in the defence and offshore energy sectors. Originality/value This provides a detailed insight into underwater robot technologies, products and applications.

Recent developments in robotic tactile perception

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 565-570 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Bogue
Keyword(s):  
Object Recognition ◽  
Collision Detection ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Tactile Sensing ◽  
Robotic Hands ◽  
Short Introduction ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Insight Into

Purpose This paper aims to provide details of recent developments in robotic tactile sensing. Design/methodology/approach Following a short introduction, this paper first provides an overview of tactile sensing effects and technologies. It then discusses recent developments in tactile sensing skins. Tactile sensing for robotic prosthetics and hands is then considered and is followed by a discussion of “tactile intelligence”. Various experimental results are included. Finally, brief concluding comments are drawn. Findings This shows that many advanced, sensitive and technologically varied tactile sensing devices are being developed. These devices are expected to impart robots with a range of enhanced capabilities such as improved gripping and manipulation, object recognition, the control and robotic hands and prosthetics and collision detection. Originality/value Tactile sensing has an increasingly important role to play in robotics, and this paper provides a technical insight into a number of recent developments and their applications.

Autonomous Underwater Vehicles: The Latest Tool for Archaeological Investigations

2002 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 45-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. Church ◽  
Daniel J. Warren
Keyword(s):  
Cost Effectiveness ◽  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Autonomous Underwater Vehicles ◽  
Underwater Vehicles ◽  
First Year ◽  
Archaeological Investigation ◽  
Offshore Oil And Gas ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Offshore Oil

In 2001, C&C Technologies, Inc. of Lafayette, Louisiana began using the HUGIN 3000 AUV in the Gulf of Mexico for offshore oil and gas surveys. This new survey vehicle is faster, more accurate, and more maneuverable than conventional deep-tow systems and has raised the bar for deepwater geophysical and hydrographic surveys. Although archaeology was not the primary purpose for developing the vehicle, archaeologists are and will continue to benefit from its use. Archaeological investigation with a conventional deep-tow system is seldom conducted during industry surveys because of the cost and time involved in operating such a system. However, during the first year of operation with the HUGIN 3000, four shipwrecks were investigated as a result of the HUGIN's cost effectiveness. The use of the HUGIN 3000 directly led to the discovery of the long sought after German submarine, U-166, which was located near its last victim, the passenger freighter SS Robert E. Lee. This AUV also helped document two additional newly discovered shipwrecks: The cargo freighter SS Alcoa Puritan and a small wooden sailing vessel known as the Mica wreck.

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