Rutter Inc. has informed that a collaborative initiative with Statoil Canada Ltd. and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador on has been successfully completed.
Rutter said on Tuesday that the joint effort between the two companies was aimed at improving offshore oil and gas operations in harsh environments with ice conditions.
The joint effort resulted in the development of a new remote sensing technology used in the automatic detection and tracking of ice. The resulting ice analysis features, integrated into Rutter’s sigma S6 systems, are capable of providing automatic identification, outlining, and drift tracking of ice floes, pans, ridges, icebergs embedded in pack ice, and open water leads.
Fraser Edison , president and CEO of Rutter, said: “The technology that was developed has resulted in a large step forward in ice management capabilities. The additions to the sigma S6 system will allow the automatic identification of ice characteristics leading to improved operational safety and efficiency for operations in ice-infested areas.”
The company added that the technology developed by Rutter was recently field-tested during trials performed by Statoil along with Viking Supply Ships in the Baltic Sea.
The cooperation between Statoil and Rutter is part of a collaborative investment between the Research & Development Corporation (RDC) and Statoil Canada Ltd. in three projects with the potential to improve Arctic and harsh-environment offshore o&g operations.
The investment, agreed to in 2014 , has a total value of $3.9 million, including $2.4 million from Statoil Canada and $1.5 million from RDC.
One of the three projects is the cooperation with Rutter while the two remaining projects are with Kvaerner Canada for Arctic subsea oil and gas separation and storage technology and with AMEC Americas for integrated ice surveillance system that incorporates risk assessment, iceberg and sea-ice remote sensing technology, and ice forecasting technology.