Connected FPSOs Thrive on Automation
Authors: Wright Blake 
Published: July 2024

Modern life is connected. Our computers, phones, and watches are all tapped into personal insights, from a daily planner to keep track of meetings and appointments to a health monitor tracking everything from heart rate to blood oxygen level in real time. This connectivity has bled over into many different facets of our lives, including work.

Business and industry maintain critical connections allowing for simplification of complex tasks and the monitoring of machines for safety and performance.

As the oil field has become more connected, increasing opportunities for automation have been introduced into both new and existing oilfield technologies with aims to achieve new levels of productivity and safety. Whether it is a robotic arm on the drill floor of a rig bringing pipe from the stand to the well or autonomous robots being used for inspections and other operation observations in hard-to-reach or remote places, if the connectivity is there it opens the door to a vast, new toolkit for contractors and operators alike.

In 2023, a group of contractors came together to help define the next steps in automation for floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessels. The FPSO Coalition—made up of SLB, Rockwell Automation, Sensia, and Cognite—is a collaboration designed to accelerate the evolution of FPSOs by developing and employing new digital capabilities aimed at improving the reliability, availability, safety, and efficiency of the assets, while lowering the carbon footprint of their offshore operations.

FPSOs have been invaluable tools for offshore development around the world for decades. Some older hardware does not have the benefit of being wired for connection or pieces of equipment being Internet of Things (IoT)-ready. As much as the coalition looks to solutions to integrate into new facilities, it also explores the limitations and potential for bringing older yet still viable components into the digital age.

Under the venture, SLB was tapped to bring advanced digital solutions, subsurface domain expertise, and complex integration and project management capabilities to scale up efficiencies and lower the carbon footprint of operations across every stage of the FPSO life cycle. Rockwell would provide expertise in control and safety systems for FPSOs, as well as extensive experience in power systems.

“Keeping in mind that the typical operating life of an FPSO can be 20-25-30 years, a lot can change in terms of technology, process conditions, regulatory requirements, etc.,” said Greg Trostel, global industry development manager for floating production at Rockwell Automation.

“But ultimately, the main goal of automation is to ensure the reliable and safe operation of the vessel—no loss of containment, no personnel at risk, no environmental incidents.

“Ideally, automation systems can adapt and grow with the changing technology and changing requirements. We depend on the automation systems to keep all the individual process modules connected to, and operating in concert with, the main vessel systems,” he said.

One of the first things tasked to the coalition was a contract awarded to SLB for a multipurpose dynamic simulation solution providing an immersive digital twin environment to dynamically simulate operational processes and their control and automation systems, train personnel, and strengthen safety elements at five newbuild FPSO units to be installed in Búzios Field in the Santos Basin for Petrobras.