Remote Controlled Operations
Wintershall Holding AG, held its annual press tour to European energy hot spots last week. At the tour, Wintershall shared a unique outlook at its achievements in 2009 and its strategy for 2010. A special focus was given to the company activities in the Netherlands, where the company is one of the largest producers of natural gas. Offshore Industry was invited to take a exclusive look behind the scenes at Wintershall’s ‘Centre for Remote Controlled Operations’ in Den Helder. Banking on innovative technologies, the BASF subsidiary has now installed one of the most modern platform control rooms in the world, which will allow the company to monitor and control its gas production platforms in the Dutch sector of the North Sea centrally. A radio surveillance system in Den Helder monitors the production operations of eighteen offshore platforms which Wintershall operates in the southern section of the North Sea, giving Wintershall a leading role in progressive offshore automation in the North Sea. Wintershall is operator of 25 offshore platforms in the Netherlands in total. The new system will secure the future commercial production of Dutch offshore reserves. Overall, the investment costs for the newly installed center for Remote Controlled Operations (RCO) in the North of the country total EUR 11.5 million, EUR 4.3 million of which Wintershall, as the operating company, is covering.