Fibre’s future in deepwater operations

The undersea telecommunications and offshore oil and gas industries have finally gotten engaged. After nearly a decade of courtship, submarine systems and offshore facilities are now forever intertwined, and marriage is the inevitable result. Like any relationship, there have been ups and downs, but the necessity for large bandwidth with a low-cost for high reliability has led to and will continue to lead to productive partnerships.

The wireless technology that has historically served voice and data transmission for large oil and gas companies is no longer sufficient. As these companies continue to grow and move farther from shore, the bandwidth and reliability capabilities of traditional satellite and microwave can no longer provide the necessary reliability and bandwidth pushing the need to go to high-capacity, reliable fibre optic networks.

When considering the importance of their communication systems and determining which system will grow with them as the industry evolves, oil and gas companies must consider proven and innovative high performance communications solutions, like undersea fibre optic cables, which can increase revenue, profitability and oilfield yield, lessen environmental impact, and improve worker safety.

BP moves into the field of the future

A few years ago, BP developed a vision called “field of the future” for its deepwater operations in the Gulf of Mexico. The vision embodied improving virtual communication, project management, predictive analysis and hurricane preparedness. The company quickly recognized that it needed a new communications solution to achieve its vision.

In late 2006, BP contracted Tyco Telecommunications to build and install an $80 million, 800-mile (1,287-km) subsea fibre optic system. Tyco Telecommunications recently completed construction of the fibre loop, which provides continuous broadband connectivity to BP’s offshore oil and gas facilities. The system was designed with upgrade capacity to support 64 platforms; each platform receives the bandwidth equivalent of 5,000 satellites. For maximum performance, the system deploys trunk and branch technology: a trunk connects two landings onshore, one in Pasacagoula, Mississippi and the other in Freeport, Texas, while multiple branches split off of the trunk to connect each of the platforms.

The bandwidth capacity for the BP system is 32 wavelengths per fibre pair, and because there are two fibre pairs in the trunk, the system can support 64 platforms. The bandwidth equivalent of one 10-gigabit wavelength delivered to one platform is similar to 120,000 simultaneous phone calls.

The system’s fibre branches are connected to the platforms via special riser cables which are secured in protective steel I-tubes and J-tubes. The fibres are broken out, a splice is applied, and connectivity is made to the communications room and other locations on the platform.

Connections between the branches and risers occur on the seafloor at fibre distribution canisters or deployment pallets. Each riser contains more than the number of fibres needed to connect to the branch, which allows connection from the primary branch to other platforms, using wet-mate connectors at the deployment pallet or fibre distribution canister. This design ensures the most important platforms can be connected directly to the branch, while others can be connected through the primary platforms.

Evolving telecommunications technology

To best serve the oil and gas industry, Tyco Telecommunications enhanced its branching unit technology by adding multiplexing. A traditional branching unit simply redirects fibres, whereas a multiplexing branching unit breaks out discrete optical bandwidth. In other words, units of capacity can be distributed to a large number of offshore platforms, therefore allowing a chain of oilrigs to be connected to a low fibre count undersea cable backbone. This design provides each primary platform with dedicated bandwidth, redundant roots to shore and no platform interdependencies.

Tyco Telecommunications recently deployed this technology, called Optical Add Drop Multiplexing (OADM), in the BP system. The infrastructure enables greater operating flexibility, including the ability to continue safe production for extended periods when turbulent weather threatens the Gulf of Mexico, and to return more quickly to production after storms pass. Furthermore, in the event that offshore personnel are evacuated due to safety concerns, the implementation of the OADM network enables the BP staff onshore to remotely monitor offshore facilities. This is extremely important, as hurricane-related shutdowns may reduce oil and gas deliveries to refineries and power plants, sometimes resulting in higher gasoline and electricity prices, or shortages.

Implementation of the BP System

In addition to developing the technology and design of the BP system, Tyco Telecommunications provided each major component of the system. The undersea cable, repeaters and branching units were manufactured at the Tyco Telecommunications plant in Newington, New Hampshire. The optical terminal equipment was manufactured at the Tyco Telecommunications plant in Lowell, Massachusetts and installed in the cable stations and on the offshore platforms by Tyco resources.

The DP II cable ship Tyco Decisive performed the lay of the main trunk, as well as the branch installations, platform landings and wet mate connections using an ROV. The Tyco vessel BC Taneo performed a variety of operations in support of the Tyco Decisive.

Conclusion

The BP system is just one of many examples of the intersection of the undersea telecommunications and offshore oil and gas industries. Oil and gas fields, such as the Gulf of Mexico, are extremely dynamic, making accessible and reliable information essential to operation, maintenance and future expansion of an undersea system. With OADM technology and other advancements, the capabilities of fibre optic, state-of-the-art systems will more than meet the bandwidth and security needs of the oil and gas industry well into the future. These technologies can be adapted and tailored to meet the unique requirements of off shore developments around the world. It should prove to be a long, happy marriage between the two industries.