Aptomar develops new environmental monitoring method

International oil spill player Aptomar has developed a new method for environmental monitoring, making it simpler, more reliable and cost efficient for the oil companies to have round the clock monitoring, detection and reporting on unintended oil spills.

The newly developed environmental monitoring service, Blue Deal, is tailor made for monitoring fields in both exploration and production phase. The service, which is based on a new technical concept for surveillance and monitoring, is a result of the industry requesting and needing a simple, cost effective and robust solution to meet and document clean operation in accordance with the given license requirements.

Through the BlueDeal service, Aptomarin, the Aptomar 24/7 maritime control centre, will on behalf of the customer monitor the sea surrounding the installation or vessel, and operationally and technically take responsibility for documenting and reporting that the oil company is operating within the given requirements, and to detect unintended oil spills within 1, 2 or 3 hours.

“An industry ‘truth’ has been established that detection of unintended oil spills, and to meet the given license requirements, are both complicated and expensive. This is something we want to prove wrong by introducing the BlueDeal service.  By introducing our new detection method, we have managed to turn the challenge with high number of false alarms when doing remote sensing upside down. Our customers can now have a robust environmental monitoring which both meets the governmental requirements, is simple to set up and service, and low cost to acquire,” says Kristin Collier Valle, environmental advisor at Aptomar.

Through BlueDeal, Aptomarin will be responsible to gather, analyse and trend the data from the operation, in addition to creating detection reports where the spill, probable polluter and the events leading up to the accident is documented. The conducted environmental monitoring will be summarised in a yearly or end-of well Blue Environment report, which can be used internally, towards the government or the public.

“Aptomarin will ensure a 24/7 surveillance and documentation that our customers operate within the given requirements for environmental monitoring and detection. Often the verified spills are not from the ongoing operation of our clients, and our job is to present documentation that can assist in clarifying who the polluter most likely is, and when the incident happened. This is something that will save a lot of time and hassle for the oil companies. In addition, if requested by the customer, we can deliver sea surveillance and detection of errand vessels as part of a combined service for field monitoring,” says Anders Meldal, Operational Manager at Aptomarin.

The technology, the systems and the competence behind the BlueDeal is a result of 10 years of R&D, testing, detection and combating of unintended oil spills worldwide. Based on this Aptomar have developed a new method and technology for environmental monitoring and detection, which have solved the challenge other systems and services have: High false alarm rates, high strain on personnel, expensive investment, installation and maintenance cost, and limited operational windows.

“One of the key benefits of BlueDeal is the simple and cost efficient installation of the needed offshore systems. Basically one pc, installed by the offshore personnel, connected to existing radar antenna and linked to Aptomar in Trondheim, is all that is needed to set up and deliver environmental monitoring from our maritime control centre,” says Collier Valle.

Adapted from a press release by David Bizley

Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/offshore-and-subsea/14122015/aptomar-develops-new-environmental-monitoring-method/