Challenges of offshore oil and gas production Working in more
extreme environments is driving improvements in networking, and
standards development for subsea automation systems.
Sophisticated equipment on the sea floor has to communicate
topside. John M. Gilmore, Jr. Global demand for hydrocarbon
energy continues to drive production, particularly among new
assets in offshore reservoirs. Deepwater and ultra-deepwater oil
and gas production began in the early 1990s, reaching
approximately 1.5 million barrels per day (BPD) in 2000, and now
exceeds 7.2 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOED).
The increase in deepwater hydrocarbon production has placed
significant demands on offshore platforms’ and vessels’
automation systems. These demands most frequently affect how
these various automation systems are used to improve and
increase deepwater production, particularly how those systems
interface with one another. A deepwater production platform
generally operates several different automation systems: - Top