HOUSTON—The underbelly of an oil platform is not a place where many people have been.

“For obvious reasons, it’s not the most inviting,” said James Harrison, co-founder and CEO of Sky-Futures. “So we fly the drone down.”

With an HD camera with 30x zooming and 180-degree tilting capabilities, the drone—or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)—can get details on parts of offshore structures that can be difficult and dangerous to reach, Harrison said during a news conference this week at OTC.

U.K.-based Sky-Futures, which provides UAV inspection services, was among the companies showcasing technology for the offshore oil and gas sector. Drones have been gaining attention in the energy sector as companies tap the small aircraft, perhaps more known for military use, for visual inspections of equipment, pipelines, flare stacks and platforms.

Harrison, who used drones in Iraq working with the U.S. Air Force and with NATO in Afghanistan, said safety was the biggest driver steering the company to the oil and gas industry. He recalled seeing photos of rope access technicians hanging from a platform to look underneath.

“It struck us as really dangerous,” said Harrison, cautiously noting the “good record” of the technicians. “But people still get injured and fatalities still occur. Flying the drone down and using the cameras to get visual inspections done is kind of a no brainer from a safety point of view.”

Other benefits of UAV inspection services:

  • Technology: UAVs can be equipped with not only HD cameras with video features, but also infrared cameras for thermal imaging and sensors to collect data such as measurements and temperatures.
  • Saves time: For every five days spent offshore, using a two-man UAV inspection team can typically save the equivalent of eight weeks of a four-man remote access team being offshore, Harrison said.
  • Avoid or reduce shutdown: Inspections can be conducted while still operating. This can help companies find problems beforehand and learn what equipment will be needed to fix problems, enabling parts to be ordered and received before shutting down. Moreover, UAV inspections conducted before planned shutdowns also can help determine whether a full, partial or no shutdown is needed.
  • Potential to save money: Using drones for preventative maintenance can help problems before they occur or enable quick repair, saving time and money.
  • Operating conditions: Harrison said Sky-Futures’ UAVs fly at an airspeed of up to 24 knots, but that will increase to 29 knots by mid-May. Drones can be flown to inspect platforms following hurricanes or during high winds, for example, to help assess whether conditions are safe for workers, he added.

But having a drone capable of flying to hard-to-reach places means nothing if pilots and others involved don’t know what they are looking at or searching for.

“We have flare experts and structural engineers—people who really understand how to take the raw data from the drone and turn it into something that the oil companies can then pick up and recognize as a standardized report,” Harrison said. When conducting inspections, an oil and gas expert goes with the pilot, who is also required to complete a month-long course on how to inspect structures.

The company, he said, is focused on the data, sensors and the kind of data the sensors can extract. Sky-Futures is currently working on gas-detection hardware, which is expected to come out in July or August.

Formed in 2009, Sky-Futures has more than 30 major oil and gas clients worldwide, with offices in the Middle East, Malaysia, the U.K. and now in Houston. It is among the 289 companies that have received permission from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to operate drones commercially. The company got the green light in March.

Harrison’s presentation came the same day the FAA announced a partnership with industry to explore the next steps in unmanned aircraft operations. Industry partners include CNN, which will examine using unmanned aerial systems (UAS) for newsgathering; PrecisionHawk, for crop monitoring; and BNSF Railroad, for rail system infrastructure inspection.

Contact the author, Velda Addison, at vaddison@hartenergy.com.