Fugro has been awarded a contract by BP Exploration Operating Company Ltd for the provision of wellhead and riser monitoring services.

The contract will support BP drilling activities for the Quad 204 redevelopment of the Schiehallion field, West of Shetland. A total of 25 wells are to be drilled over the next seven years using the new Deepsea Aberdeen semi-submersible rig.

Under the contract Fugro will provide its wellhead and riser instrumentation service (WARIS), which has the DeepData subsea motion monitoring pods at its core. The DeepData pods are ROV recoverable, can be deployed for up to one year and will be positioned on the blow out preventer (BOP), lower marine riser package (LMRP) and selected riser positions. The pods communicate motion data and statistics to the surface via subsea hydroacoustic modems and the vessel’s existing high precision acoustic positioning (HiPAP) system.

A topside data acquisition system will collate and process the subsea data.The system will also integrate data feeds from the existing Fugro environmental monitoring system, allowing the subsea structural motion to be correlated against parameters such as significant wave height and currents. These data will allow a full understanding of the riser and wellhead behaviour.

Gordon Hamilton, Commercial Manager at Fugro GEOS said, “We are delighted to support BP with their work on the Schiehallion redevelopment. Our experience of deploying motion monitoring with subsea data processing and hydroacoustic communication along with integrated metocean data will provide a platform for accurate real-time monitoring.”