HOUSTON—BP Plc is unleashing a rich portfolio of technology to lead the pack in the modernization of oil and gas infrastructure offshore.

The British supermajor’s Mad Dog Phase 2 platform—a $9 billion capital project located in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico (GoM)—is being equipped with new technology in an effort to make it a completely unmanned facility, according to Ken Nguyen, the project’s digital program manager. The platform was sanctioned just three years ago and is a focal project driving BP’s digital transformation.

Nguyen detailed how BP is executing a large-scale transformation across the major project while speaking at the Intelligent Automation in Oil and Gas Summit hosted by IQPC on Feb. 25. The company’s goal, he said, is to become more automated as the energy industry transitions.

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“Technology becomes obsolete very quickly so we need to plan more than just 12 months in advance especially on capital projects,” he said.

Developing the dynamic digital twin, leveraging a mixed reality solution, and establishing subsea WiFi and a new IT network are among a few innovations that is actualizing the concept of Mad Dog Phase 2 becoming a self-running facility, Nguyen said.

At the top of BP’s modernization program is digitizing its operations. This birthed the dynamic digital twin, a BP patent-pending solution that enables the visualization of the entire field by transforming complex and disparate data into life-like visualization.

“It takes an entire replica of not only disruption that you see on the topside but all the way down to the subsea hardware and, now, even into the reservoir to form a fully integrated replica,” he said. “You would get what you normally associate with a digital twin, which is all the static information, but we take the next step by adding loud dynamic data and adding simulations to it so that it becomes a living, breathing entity.”

BP enhanced the replica by honing in on its life-like capabilities. For example, Nguyen said the digital twin can show a realistic steel structure of the topside like for floating production units.

“When you see our digital twin, it will actually show the alloy of steel and over time we will incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) into it,” he said. “So, we will be able to age the steel based on the alloy and the condition out there so that we’re able to go offshore and achieve a more targeted inspection.”

BP plans to incorporate true cognitive AI to build on the technology and further drive change.

“We’re working with academia like MIT labs and other leading companies to begin to actualize this concept of a self-running facility that you feed with business parameters, production rates and the amount of turnaround necessary,” Nguyen said.

The platform is also equipped with Microsoft HoloLens, a mixed reality solution that enables the realization of equipment. He said the immersive design utilizes a 3-D hologram to communicate the upstream environment to BP’s network of experts and allows early defect prevention by providing insight before an order is complete.

“With HoloLens, they can overlay the 3-D hologram onto reality and very easily go through their checklist in a matter of hours versus days and weeks,” he said.

Satellites have maintained IT networks as a practice for offshore-to-onshore communication, but BP is introducing deepwater into the equation.

“Because we have a good fiber-optic ring, we were able to leverage it and welcome our partners to then broadcast LTE that provides blanket coverage across the entire GoM,” Nguyen said.

BP’s GoM Fiber Optic Network is a submarine fiber cable system that provides connectivity, reliability, and nearly unlimited bandwidth between onshore and offshore oil and gas facilities in the region, the company said. The cable is over 1,200 km in water depths of nearly 2,000 m and has 21 branching units and 25 repeaters.

The network has enabled the company to try out autonomous service vessels to potentially deliver supplies and deploy ROVs, according to Nguyen.

Subsea WiFi is another new concept BP has successfully introduced to further expand its offshore IT network. Placed 5,000 ft to 6,000 ft below the waterline, BP has been able to get high-speed communication at the bottom of the sea to allow it to test out autonomous ROVs, which Nguyen described as “the Roomba of subsea.”

The technology has been able to achieve light intervention and inspection, and not only service the Mad Dog platform, but also other nearby facilities. BP has even applied augmented reality to the ROVs to lay out a flight path via hologram, to better complete subsea jobs and also to provide clear navigation at dark, deep depths.

The company is also taking drones beyond the line of inspection to produce detailed photography, so the company can then generate a three-point cloud model of the asset.

Looking back, Nguyen noted the project was sanctioned during the downturn of oil. He recalled it being a difficult process at the time to justify the large funds used to lay the foundation for the infrastructure. However, he said he felt it was imperative to pursue solutions that would be useful years down the road with companies like Microsoft.

Thanks to forward-thinking and a “calculated gamble,” BP is securing a major lead in the digital transformation race, he said. 

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