Sharing resources in oil rig networks - Technology Information

Oil companies that made the leap and invested long term in fiber ring networks are poised to reap the benefits.

Petroleum companies are pioneering new systems architecture for submarine fiber networks across oceans, and giant mainland cybercenters could soon be rivaled by offshore oilfield communications hubs being built to support exploration and production.

Telecoms operators have been building coast-to-coast systems linking oil well platforms for at least two years. Now they are building the equivalent of metropolitan area networks in the ocean: wellhead fiber rings that provide redundancy and easy maintenance for data communications services in operating deep sea rigs.

Microwave links

Norwegian operator Enitel is constructing a 200-kilometer fiber optic network in the North Sea, to be operational by the spring, which will enable offshore oil companies to move maintenance staff from the platforms to shore.

In the Gulf of Mexico, United States service provider Petrocom, based in Harahan, Louisiana, is undertaking a similar project to link seven offshore oil platforms with onshore sites.

Petrocom's project hit a snag, literally, last fall when a fishing boat cut one of the newly installed fibers, causing a major delay in the network's deployment. As a result, Petrocom will install microwave links to ensure network redundancy if such a break occurs when the network becomes operational sometime this year.

Enitel's project in the North Sea, however, is a ring structure, which means that if there is a network break, traffic can be redirected on the opposite path.

Enitel, based in Oslo and traded on the Oslo Stock Exchange, was created in 1996 when 48 Norwegian power companies pooled their power line resources to build a national fiber optic network. The first offshore oil companies to use the ring network will be Statoil and Norsk Hydro. The network will connect to an existing fiber link from an onshore site at Kollsnes to the Troll platform, which Statoil installed (see map, right).

With the high capacity of a fiber optic network, oil company staff can now remotely monitor crucial measurements, such as oil pressure. And tasks now performed by five individuals on five different platforms can be done by one person on shore, explained Oieind Reinertsen, senior vice president for operations in the Tampen region at Statoil, based in Stavanger, Norway, who has worked closely with the Enitel project.

Fiber's potential for unlimited bandwidth is a big attraction. If Statoil, for example, ever needed more bandwidth, it would lease more capacity from Enitel.

"It's like you're building a 50-lane highway and you're only using three lanes," said Reinertsen.

The fiber ring will make it possible to monitor critical missions from shore. "There are a lot of communications systems on shore and it's very slow because of the satellite link. You sometimes have to queue up to send emails," said Reinertsen. "And satellites are more expensive."

Long term gains

The initial cost of the fiber network is outweighed by the gain in capacity. Enitel estimates that an oil company could save [pound]1 billion a year in operational costs.

"The real difference between the satellite and microwave links is that with optical fiber, you have an initial cost, but once you've paid it, you have an easy way to upgrade the network," said Peter Viereck, vice president and general manager of Tellabs in Denmark, which supplied the fiber optic equipment for the Enitel network.

Statoil and other oil companies have been building fiber optic links to offshore platforms, but Enitel is looking to link these platforms to create new routes for international telecoms traffic.

NorSea Com AS, an. undersea fiber installation company jointly owned by Enitel and Telia AB, built a network in 1998 that links platforms across the North Sea from Kalsto, Norway to Suffolk, England. Enitel plans to link the fiber ring with the NorSea Com network and is currently discussing collaborations with several oil companies.

"This is platform hopping to cross oceans," said Ole-Jacob Hagen, project manager at Enitel. "The network uses [the] oil platforms to cross the North Sea. The distance is too long to have a fiber system without repeaters in it."

The repeaters are installed on board the oil platforms so that network engineers can access them for repairs or upgrades. "That was a major ground breaker," said Hagen.

NorSea Coin also recently signed an agreement with British Petroleum to connect each other's fiber systems in the North Sea to establish a link between Norway and Scotland. "There is going to be a rather significant ring structure of networks in the North Sea," said Hagen.

COPYRIGHT 2001 EMAP Media Ltd.
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