BP handpicks red zone monitoring tech for North Sea well intervention ops

Salunda, a UK-headquartered firm specializing in red-zone safety monitoring technology, has inked a deal with energy giant BP to install its monitoring solution on the latter’s North Sea assets.

The safety tech company explains that the regional launch of its Crew Hawk red zone monitoring solution follows the system’s field trials on BP’s Clair Ridge platform, where it was tested for location accuracy, operating modes, and reliability. Adjustments were then made to ensure safer red zone management for various hazardous operations.

The technology wirelessly monitors dangerous working environments in real time and uses anonymized feedback from tracking individuals and equipment to make operations safer and minimize risks, highlighted the firm, noting that this is the first time it was used for well interventions.

Salunda’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Alan Finlay, said: “We are committed to continuously improving the welfare of people working in safety-critical industries. To this effect, Crew Hawk has redefined Red Zone monitoring by providing instant updates to the area authority and use of the technology greatly enhances the safety of hazardous operations.”

Crew Hawk allows users to set up perimeters in the working environment around areas that pose the greatest risk to personnel. In doing so, the firm claims it meets the industry’s certification requirements – MET, IECEx, and ATEX.

The system works by alerting a locator worn by an individual and the area authority as soon as the person enters an exclusion or red zone, enabling both parties to take steps to remedy the situation. As the technology is connected with active equipment, it notifies the staff in the ‘line of fire’.

Furthermore, operational and safety statistics can be viewed on performance dashboards, while a playback feature enables a detailed investigation of zone violations or incidents in a work area. In dynamic situations, a zone can be triggered around activated equipment or machinery, alerting users directly if they enter these zones.

In late May, Salunda disclosed that it had secured a contract to install Crew Hawk on a jack-up rig in the Middle East, without providing details on the client or the rig in question.

Meanwhile, BP reached a final investment decision (FID) for the Kaskida project, situated approximately 250 miles southwest off the coast of New Orleans in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

The energy major also enlisted Subsea Integration Alliance, a strategic alliance between SLB’s OneSubsea and Subsea7, to carry out the engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) of subsea pipelines (SURF) and production systems (SPS) for the Murlach oil and gas development in the UK sector of the North Sea.