MSI updates Ichthys buoy operations

May 16, 2016
Metocean Services International has completed its first annual service of McDermott Australia’s AXYS WatchMate current and wave buoy.

Offshore staff

SANDY BAY, Australia – Metocean Services International (MSI) has completed its first annual service of McDermott Australia’s AXYS WatchMate current and wave buoy.

This is installed in 270 m (885 ft) of water at theINPEX-operated Ichthys field in the Browse basin offshore Western Australia.

First production from theIchthys LNG project is targeted for 3Q 2017.

Real-time meteorological, current, and directional spectral wave data is telemetered back to MSI via Inmarsat satellite and posted onto a client website.

Data is also sent to an FTP site, allowing McDermott personnel to use it to support the ongoing infield construction.

The WatchMate buoy is a solar-powered instrument that provides measurement of directional waves. The sensor unit comprises three accelerometers, three rate gyros, a fluxgate compass, and a TRIAXYS processor.

A Nortek 600KHz profiler provides current data while meteorological data can be measured using a variety of sensors.

The WatchMate was chosen due to the extreme local metocean conditions at the site which meant that a standard wave buoy was unlikely to survive, MSI claims.

It features added flotation and a site-specific mooring, designed by AXYS.

After three years, with offshore work completed, McDermott will likely recover the buoy.

05/16/2016

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