Fugro has conducted the first fully remote floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel heading control operation in the North Sea. The project included remote configuration of the positioning systems, the assisting anchor handling vessel and the dive support vessel. 

Fugro delivered these services during a scheduled subsea inspection, repair and maintenance campaign of one of Bluewater's FPSOs. When asked, Fugro said it could not reveal which of Bluewater's five FPSOs was involved. However, since the operation was managed from Aberdeen, it is likely one the three FPSOs that are active in the UK sector of the North Sea: the Aoka Mizu (Lancaster Field), Hæwene Brim (Pierce Field) or Bleo Holm (Ross, Parry and Blake Fields). The other two, the Glas Dowr and Munin, are operating offshore Australia and the South China Sea respectively. The operation ran for a week with no Fugro survey crew offshore. Conducting surveys in this way enables significant operational cost savings and derisking through a reduction of offshore personnel.

Low Bandwidth Connection

The remote operation was managed from Fugro's Command Centre in Aberdeen via a low bandwidth connection, enabling command and control of the integrated survey system onboard the vessel and communication with the FPSO marine crew. Bluewater was also able to monitor operations in real time from shore via a web browser link.

Fugro has now provided over 100,000 remote service project hours for rig and FPSO positioning around the globe from its seven remote service centres, with 24/7 onshore supervision in Aberdeen, Bergen, Houston, Macaé, Perth and Singapore. 

Picture: An employee of Fugro working at a remote rig positioning project at the Command Centre.