Schiebel and Nordic Unmanned have carried out what is claimed to be the world’s first full-scale offshore UAV (unmanned aerial-vehicle) cargo delivery from shore to an active oil and gas installation. Schiebel’s CAMCOPTER S-100 UAV was used to simulate the scenario of an urgent requirement for specific essential spare parts at the gas production platform Troll A, owned by Norwegian energy company Equinor.
The CAMCOPTER S-100 took off from Mongstad near the west coast of Norway, where the spare parts had been 3D-printed, and flew 100 km (55 nm) to the Troll A platform in the North Sea. After making the delivery, the UAV also performed a close inspection around the platform before heading home.
The simulated delivery exercise was part of a series of flight trials that also included a successful Search and Rescue (SAR) mission, where a “man over board” dummy was quickly located by the UAV, using its L3 Harris Wescam real-time Electro-Optical/Infra-Red (EO/IR) camera payload and an Automatic Identification System (AIS), and transmitting the positioning data and live images.
Hans Georg Schiebel, Chairman of the Schiebel Group, commented: “This was the perfect trial to show off the exceptional maritime capabilities of the S-100 for the oil and gas industry. We have extensive experience in long-range unmanned flights, especially in the maritime domain and under adverse weather conditions. The S-100 was able to show off its outstanding capabilities and we have proven once again that the S-100 UAV is the superior choice.”