Offshore staff
(OTC, Houston) – Shell Brasil Ltda and Shell International Exploration and Production Inc. have awarded a two-year contract to Fugro Geosolutions (Brasil) Serviços De Levantamento for the measurement, acquisition and analysis of meteorological and oceanographic (metocean) data offshore Brazil in and around proposed development areas in Blocks BC-10 and BS-4.
Fugro made the announcement in Houston last week at the Offshore Technology Conference.
In a press release, Fugro stated that the purpose of the measurement program is to "characterize the behavior and variability of Brazil current and underlying water masses (including its meanders and eddies), and the concurrent surface processes of wind and wave."
Shell considers knowledge of currents, underlying water masses and wind and wave interactions as critical for the design and safe operation of floating production systems and other offshore oil and gas infrastructure.
Michael Vogel of Shell International E&P said "This long-term assessment emphasizes Shell's commitment to undertaking field development work offshore Brazil that is a good example of an area that offers Shell growth opportunities."
The measurement program will comprise the deployment of two moorings at each block for a period of two years. Each program will feature a deepwater current meter mooring, which measures full water column current profile data using a combination of Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCPs) and Recording Current Meters (RCMs).
They will additionally incorporate a Fugro Oceanor Wavescan buoy mooring to measure directional wave data, meteorological data and seawater parameters.
The moorings will be deployed using the Fugro Oceansatpeg JV owned dedicated survey vesselOPEG I, in water depths of approximately 1,750m at Block BC-10 and 1,550m at Block BS-4.
The surface buoy will also employ satellite communications to report data on a regular basis and allow the publication of monthly data reports.
In addition, area-side surveys of current and seawater temperature and conductivity will allow site-specific conditions and larger scale oceanic phenomena to be investigated.
The moorings will be serviced at six-monthly intervals. Every site visit will also include a metocean survey field program that will include vessel-mounted ADCP (VMADCP) profiling over approximately 1,300 km of pre-set survey lines that will encompass each of the measurement locations and the area between the two locations.
All data will be quality controlled, analyzed, presented and reported to the high standards required by both Fugro and Shell.
"This award is testament to Fugro's emphasis on combining high calibre staff, with advanced measurement techniques and excellent local resources giving our clients confidence and creating customer success," says Jan van Smirren, regional director for Fugro GEOS Inc.
He adds, "One of the strengths of our proposal is that we are using tried and tested technologies and deployment systems. What is unusual is the combination of these measurement techniques on an overall measurement program – we have a fascinating and challenging two years ahead of us."
5/01/2006
