In an area historically recognized as one of the world’s harshest environments for E&P operations, an oasis of calm appears far offshore in the North Sea. It is a “flotel,” one that houses rig workers on and off the job. On the flotel, the crew is able to use state-of-the-art Internet connectivity in their daily work of maintaining or modifying field installations, using online applications to stream real-time subsea video back to onshore offices in Houston, Aberdeen or Brazil. Then during time off they are able to spend time communicating with their families.

While these services are not new to the offshore world, they have traditionally added unmanageable expense because of costs of unpredictable bandwidth use to an industry dependent upon positive return on investment, eating away at the daily budget while delegating the majority of precious bandwidth to corporate endeavors and leaving crew members with little to nothing to boost morale in their often monotonous “free time.” Offshore crew members have come to expect a similar connectivity performance as they experience in onshore offices or at home, which makes this improved connectivity so important.

In this new environment, Emerging Markets Communications Inc. (EMC) was chosen by the flotel operator because of its ability to provide fully managed connectivity services and support to a crew of more than 400 in the North Sea using its Global Maritime Satellite network. EMC’s Global Maritime network offers value-added services such as its patented HD Connect video on-demand services and its Speednet browsing service. The latter is a cloud-based browser that is finely optimized for satellite operation that increases webpage upload and download speeds; enriches the delivery of audio, video and multimedia content; and enables faster typing and scrolling. These value-added services have been proven to benefit customers by providing a faster and more enhanced web browsing and videoconferencing experience over satellite.

Operator requirements

EMC’s client in the North Sea had more than just crew morale in mind. As the world's leading owner and operator of semisubmersible accommodation/service vessels, the company had several mission-critical “must haves.”

The first was that 99.5% service availability be constantly maintained for both project operations and crew welfare. This reliability is important for operations because if communications go down for more than eight hours, all operations must be stopped for safety reasons. Any connectivity downtime where data cannot flow back and forth between rig and onshore operations impacts overall efficiency; health, safety and operations; and ultimately revenue.

Downtime on an offshore rig can mean tens of thousands of dollars each hour, so it was critical that the company was able to meet the client’s criteria of 99.5% availability.
For the crew, this reliability is important because they lose the ability to remain in touch with their families and the outside world via the Internet.

Second, the client requested to use its existing SeaTel antenna, minimizing up-front capital costs of the solution. Signal blockage is not uncommon and can happen when vessels are moving and cranes or other equipment obstruct the satellite signal. Therefore, the company requested a solution to avoid satellite line of sight blockage, which could entail a specific dual-satellite antenna configuration to avoid signal blockage while the flotel moves.

Finally, the solution must be able to separate the bandwidth capacity in the satellite connection into two virtual networks: one to be employed for the client’s mission-critical and corporate data transmission needs and the other dedicated to crew welfare. Providing a dedicated pool for crew welfare purposes means the site operator does not have to worry about compromising important project data with data generated by the applications that the crew uses in their leisure time.

The solution

The company customized a solution to meet all client requirements. For this particular case, a Ku-Band satellite was used for primary and backup coverage for the anticipated route. However, quite often the route changes, and EMC is able to shift connectivity to accommodate the client’s needs. This customized service ensured that the bandwidth would be separated into two distinct networks with guaranteed reliability. These objectives were accomplished while keeping the existing SeaTel Maritime antenna in place.

Other equipment that enabled the exact service solution included a SatLink 2900 Mobile VSAT modem, a proprietary platform technology that is capable of delivering up to 50 packets per second (MBps) of downstream IP throughput and up to 5,000 MBps in the upstream using either bandwidth-on-demand or dedicated single-channel-per-carrier uplinks. Because the VSAT modem supports mobility, as the vessel sails through satellite coverage areas, EMC’s Global Maritime network enables the flotel to have a smooth transition of connectivity between satellite and beam using the automatic beam switching feature that is built into the system.

Whether for work or leisure, all members aboard the flotel enjoy optimized bandwidth solutions that allow them to use the Internet in the same way they are able to use it onshore. Cell phone calls and voice-over Internet protocol included in the solution are delivered in a model that is commercially accepted by both operations and the crew members.

In addition to the benefits of a reliable satellite communication service, EMC’s Aberdeen Network Operations Center provides 24/7 field support for the entire North Sea. This center also is equipped with sufficient spare parts to significantly reduce service downtime in the event of any equipment malfunction.

Providing top-tier communications in a “one-stop-shop” solution is important to customers in this industry. Operating companies using these services are able to ensure rig communication with onshore offices at all times as well as provide suitable communication means for increasing crew morale while working offshore and helping to maximize rig employee retention, all of which affect the company’s bottom line.