Petrobras (NYSE: PBR) (NYSE: PBRA), the world's eighth largest oil company, has published Walkinside software in its Proteus web-portal to help reduce operational risks and costs and to enable more efficient operation, inspection, and maintenance of its offshore oil platforms, FPSOs, and subsea systems.
Walkinside technology provides Petrobras intuitive, user-driven navigation inside massive models built from very diverse CAD, laser-scan, and digital- image data and formats. Human avatars, with gravity- and collision- constraints, move inside the asset as if they were on-site operators, greatly facilitating field personnel safety review, pre-handover training, and remote collaboration during asset operation.
A pioneer and leader in large-scale drilling platforms and FPSOs, Petrobras is aggressively expanding its capacity to produce offshore structures and vessels so that it can tap the rich potential of a new discovery in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as its deep-water fields offshore Brazil, which are among the largest fields in the world. To meet the challenges of these environments, increasingly sophisticated platforms with exceptionally dense and complex structural and outfitting designs will be required.
"Establishing two-way links between the Walkinside VR models and external applications, such as the FLACS CFD simulation software from GexCon, enables Petrobras to modify its engineering design to accommodate evacuation routes and to enhance personnel safety by simulating emergency situations and optimizing remediation procedures for catastrophic events," said Paulo Roberto Oliveira de Araujo, manager of Petrobras' Project Automation Group at UN-RIO. He added, "We are currently planning the full deployment of Walkinside technology, which will significantly help us improve safety and increase operational efficiency, while reducing costs and optimizing oil production."
Francois Lagae, VRcontext CEO, said, "We are proud to play an integral role in helping Petrobras meet or exceed its increased oil-production objectives by expediting the design-to-production cycles of major capital projects, while safeguarding field personnel, asset integrity, and the environment."
"The need to safely and fully develop Petrobras' existing fields and new discoveries is increasingly important, and we look forward to providing the advanced remote-operation solutions that will help bring new energy resources to market," added Marc de Buyl, VRcontext executive vice president.
About Petrobras
Petrobras SA ( http://www.petrobras.com) is a Brazil-based international energy company that performs in a profitable manner, with social and environmental responsibility. The eighth largest oil company and the eighth most respected company in the world, Petrobras operates in 27 countries. The 54-year-old company produces more than two million barrels of oil per day and is traded on the world's major stock exchanges.
About VRcontext
VRcontext International SA ( http://www.vrcontext.com) is a leading global provider of engineering and geospatial software that enables customers to visualize complex data. Over 200 businesses and governments in more than 30 countries rely on VRcontext's industry-specific software to organize vast amounts of data into understandable visual representations and actionable intelligence.
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http://www.vrcontext.com/
http://www.petrobras.com/