GE Oil & Gas announced it has secured the first two orders for its new SeaLyticsTM BOP (blowout preventer) Advisor software system with U.S.-based drilling contractor Atwood Oceanics and Brazilian drilling contractor Queiroz Galvão Óleo e Gás (QGOG). The milestone contracts were announced during the 2014 Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston.

With GE’s SeaLytics BOP Advisor monitoring and predictive maintenance solution, drilling contractors are now able to monitor the performance of BOPs and proactively plan their maintenance by using predictive analytics based on actual component performance data.

“We are excited about the possibilities of this technology and what it will do to improve reliability and predictability of our GE equipment,” said Barry Smith, vice president—technical services at Atwood Oceanics. “Atwood looks forward to partnering with GE on advancing operational reliability.”

“With the constant growth we are seeing in the Brazilian offshore sector, QGOG is continually looking at technology that enables us to work smarter and more efficiently,” said Rodrigo Ribeiro, chief drilling operating officer, QGOG. “We see GE’s new software as an important tool to further improve the overall performance of our BOPs.”

When a BOP is offline for unplanned service, the cost to the drilling contractor can be significant, both in terms of idled crews and missed opportunities. A lengthy downtime event can ripple through a rig’s drilling schedule well beyond the initial system outage. GE’s SeaLytics is designed to improve BOP system uptime and reduce unnecessary maintenance, which leads to better cost forecasting, all of which provide significant performance benefits to the user.

“Atwood Oceanics and QGOG are important GE Oil & Gas partners,” said Chuck Chauviere, president of GE Oil & Gas’ drilling systems. “Implementing the new SeaLytics BOP Advisor system will enable these operators and other customers to get the most uptime from their blowout preventer systems and help GE provide an even higher degree of service in the process.”

SeaLytics BOP Advisor was the first GE Oil & Gas product to be developed at GE’s Software Center of Excellence in San Ramon, California, taking advantage of software development expertise from across the entire GE organization. The Software COE brings together the biggest ideas and latest technologies from across GE, enabling products like SeaLytics BOP Advisor to take full advantage of the company’s expertise and broad investment in Industrial Internet technologies and solutions. Such new ecosystems of connected machines have the potential to increase industrial efficiency, minimize waste and enable the people operating the systems to make smarter decisions.

Underscoring the importance of this product, SeaLytics BOP Advisor was selected as a 2014 OTC Technology Spotlight Award winner. In keeping with the criteria for winning technologies, GE’s technology offers broad appeal for the offshore industry and provides significant benefits beyond existing products and also has been proven through full-scale application or successful prototype testing.

Press Release, May 08, 2014; Image: GE