Major Drilling Contractor Selects Nautronix for Digital Acoustic BOP Switches
03 June 2011
Nautronix has received orders from a major drilling contractor to supply Emergency BOP (EBOP) Digital Acoustic Control Systems for their new build ultra-deepwater drillships. This follows previous orders from the Dynamic Positioning System (DPS) provider to supply Nautronix market-leading NASDrill RS925 Deepwater Positioning Systems for these latest generation drillships.
The Nautronix EBOP System provides a wireless control method to safely disconnect the drillship from a well in an emergency situation, providing backup to the primary control system. If hardwire control and communication with the drillship's Blowout Preventer (BOP) has failed or cannot be safely reached, EBOP can be used to quickly and safely unlatch the riser from the well. EBOP can then continue to provide wireless monitoring of the shut-in well following disconnect.
Nautronix EBOP satisfies drilling safety requirements for operating areas such as offshore Norway and offshore Brazil (as required by Petrobras), where drilling vessels are required to have emergency acoustic control capability for their BOP.
The ultra-deepwater drillships have been supplied with both EBOP portable and fixed topside units, making them compliant for drilling operations worldwide.
EBOP utilises Nautronix proprietary ADS2 (Acoustic Digital Spread Spectrum) advanced broadband signalling technology at the heart of the system.
Nautronix ADS2 digital signalling is optimised for high integrity control and monitoring of subsea assets, to ensure there is no interference from unwanted sources such as other acoustic noise or the environment. The handshaking protocol used maintains the very highest level of system integrity. ADSē has been proven, with over ten years of successful subsea operations, as a highly reliable and extremely robust digital acoustic signalling technology for critical operations such as BOP control.
