Equinor ASA and Norwegian airport regulator Avinor aim to make “advanced drone operations” over the North Sea common place to facilitate rig inspection and reduce long distances between oil and gas rigs.
The establishment of an unmanned air traffic system will facilitate the employment of drones off the coast of Norway, and Equinor expects thousands of flights between facilities in the coming years, Equinor’s executive vice president for technology said on Thursday, digital and innovation, Hege Skryseth. The company is also studying the use of underwater drones, with a test planned for May.
With vehicles becoming more ubiquitous, the approach to flight approvals needs to be updated, said air transport consultant Alexander Blokhus. Working with Avinor will reduce flight approval times to 30 minutes, starting a month from today, he said, adding that in the future there will be 10 to 15 types of drones in use offshore , capable of transporting loads of one ton or more.
“When we realize that, it’s going to be a very important part of our business going forward,” Skryseth said, speaking in an interview after a demonstration of robots and drones at the natural gas production facility in Equinor Karsto Thursday. “When it comes to drones, I think we’re just at the beginning.”
In August, the Norwegian oil and gas giant partnered with Nordic Unmanned to complete the world’s first logistics drone flight between two offshore facilities: Gullfaks A and B. A total of twelve landings over a two-week period, with the drones they were carrying. everything from spare keys to drilling rigs. A multi-stage trip of about 185 kilometers (115 miles) with a remotely piloted drone is planned for the end of the year.
“This is very important when it comes to the ambitions we have to increase the use of drones at scale,” said Skryseth of the Avinor deal. “It’s important to have a formalized and secure system.”
Equinor is also exploring the use of robots to tackle particularly dirty, remote, boring or dangerous jobs. The robots being tested both onshore and offshore are equipped with a thermal camera to detect gas leaks, video and audio recording equipment, Svein Ivar Sagatun, head of robotics and drones at equinox They can be used for routine inspections or even equipped with soap and a hose for cleaning.
Drones both above and below water also have great potential when it comes to monitoring Norway’s energy infrastructure, Skryseth said. Security on Norway’s continental shelf remains high following the sabotage of the Nordstream gas pipelines in September last year, raising the stakes in Europe’s energy conflict with Russia.
