Offshore Installations to be Linked via Fiber-Optic Cable
A quantum leap in communications capabilities is about to take place in the US sector of the Gulf of Mexico. Its first fiber-optic communications transport system is to be installed in stages, beginning this month. The system is a fiber optical SONET (synchronous optical network) ring connecting Houston to New Orleans via an extensive land and offshore system that is being provided by Harahan, LA-based Petroleum Communications (PetroCom), a major provider of cellular telephone and satellite voice and data communications to users in the US Gulf of Mexico, which is now introducing its FiberWeb fiber-optic communications transport system for oil and gas operators and service companies in the region. [See related article] Because SONET allows bi-directional transmission, communications and data transfer will be uninterrupted even if there is a break in the cable, by rerouting the signal back around the loop to its intended receiver.
Click here to see a map of FiberWeb .
High volume, high speed capabilities (back to top)
FiberWeb technology will provide offshore oil production platforms with the infrastructure for high volume, high speed voice, data, and video capabilities. The service will give offshore platforms greater reliability and enhanced services such as video conferencing, high-speed internet access and virtual private networks. In addition, the service's high bandwidth will allow for real time data to be generated from such activities as seismic acquisitions, wireline operations, and measurement-while-drilling.
FiberWeb's speed of 2.5 gigabytes per second (GPS) has the potential of quadrupling its capacity. It will provide three-times the current capacity in the Gulf, equal to 32,000 simultaneous calls.
Such reliable bandwidth will increase the potential of automation and robotics on future offshore platforms, making it possible for a remotely located worker to perform the tasks of several offshore workers automatically.
PetroCom's FiberWeb system will initially connect production platforms on the edge of the deepwater areas of the Gulf at East Breaks 160, Garden Banks 236, South Marsh Island 205, Green Canyon 19, South Timbalier 165, and Mississippi Canyon 268. Eventually it will cover many more platforms with a total of 1,200 miles of cable and will work in conjunction with PetroCom's other communications networks. Due for completion and commissioning in August, the first stages will see the fiber optic cable installed across Texas and Louisiana, then leave shore via a 10-mile, eight-inch decommissioned Enron pipeline at Freeport, Texas and a five-mile, six-inch decommissioned Burlington pipeline at Port Fourchon, Louisiana.
SAIC survey (back to top)
SAIC, Science Applications International Corp. (McLean, VA) and its Goleta, California Maripro Operations units are providing overall program management, technical expertise, and support in securing all permits, marine system design and engineering, and marine cable installation. In addition, SAIC conducted a seafloor cable route survey in preparation for the cable laying. The survey included swath bathymetry, seabed imaging, sediment thickness, and sampling of sediment.
Click here to see a typical cable landing and diagram & stats of cable.
Some 850 km of Simplex Technologies SL-101 fiber-optic submarine cable, provided by Tyco Submarine Systems, is being used. Although the cable is standard SL-101, a lightweight version of it will be used in the near shore pipelines and a SA, or single-armor, version is to be used for the seafloor sections. Furthermore, it is configured with 16 high-strength steel wires surrounding a poly core that contains additional steel wires, copper hermetic protection, and up to 12 fibers contained in a polymeric material. Although only two fibers are necessary for a SONET ring, the balance will be available for interchange marketing and/or dark fiber transactions.
Once the cable is laid in the landfall pipelines, the Maersk Forwarder cable-laying vessel will lay the remaining 1,200 tons of fiber optic cable, across the Gulf's deepwater rim at a maximum water depth of approximately 300 ft. A second vessel, Stolt Comex Seaway's Legend, using a Talon ROV and diver-operated Sea Trench water jetting sled, will bury the cable at a minimum depth of three ft beneath the sea floor to protect it at shallower depths from shrimp trawlers and other potential hazards. The complete installation operation is expected to be accomplished in 71 days.
There are now more than 20,000 people working daily in the Gulf and more than 3,700 fixed locations that may connect to the system.
By Dev George