Ocean Power Technologies trials autonomous monitoring buoy with Premier Oil

Ocean Power Technologies has announced the successful deployment of its PB3 PowerBuoy in the North Sea for its customer Premier Oil.

This latest deployment of a PB3 PowerBuoy will serve Premier as an autonomous intelligent platform to provide communications and remote monitoring services at Premier’s Huntington field in the central North Sea.

During the deployment, Premier will demonstrate the PB3 PowerBuoy capabilities, its ability to monitor the local environment and alert ships of the field’s safety zone as a potential solution to help with their future decommissioning related operations.

This deployment begins a nine months lease, subject to meeting a number of acceptance criteria in the first three months. The lease also includes an option to extend the initial nine-month lease, as well as a purchase option.

The project is backed by the Aberdeen-based Oil & Gas Technology Centre, which has provided co-funding, support and technical input to the monitoring requirements for the buoy.

Paul Williams, UK Business Unit Manager at Premier commented, “We are excited to be trialling the PB3 PowerBuoy at our operated Huntington field.  This is a great opportunity to prove new technology which will enable us to minimise the environmental impact of our decommissioning programs, while maintaining flexibility to deliver maximum economic recovery from our fields. Assuming success, we will look at the potential to deploy this technology on other assets and for different purposes, both in the UK and further afield.”

George Kirby, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ocean Power Technologies, commented, “We are excited to be supporting Premier in their decommissioning activities with our PB3 PowerBuoy, which delivers a reliable autonomous solution for surveillance and monitoring.

“This deployment is the culmination of the tremendous effort and dedication of the entire OPT team in close collaboration with Premier. The process of deployment went very smoothly, with the PB3 PowerBuoy reaching its destination on schedule and at full operational readiness.

“We look forward to demonstrating the superior operational effectiveness of the PB3 PowerBuoy to the world, demonstrating that the PB3 PowerBuoy can become the preferred solution for topside surveillance during decommissioning, and subsea well monitoring.”

Source: World Oil