Telecommunications Offshore

Abstract

Abstract A survey of telecommunications systems and equipment now in use by offshore operators is presented. The costs, effectiveness, and availabilities of the various services and systems is evaluated and comparitive analyses are offered. A discussion of new services and hardware is undertaken with studies of their costs, capabilities, and limitations according to geographic location. The paper concludes with informal remarks by the author concerning telecommunications as a service offshore and attitudes toward it within the offshore industry. Introduction The physics, electronics, logistics, and politics of offshore oil exploration and production are such that telecommunications for that phase of the industry is somewhat different than for similar applications ashore. Radio waves propagate differently, the environment is generally more severe, maintenance activities are more costly, and since offshore work is simply more expensive than for similar activities ashore, the communications user on the geophysical vessel, supply boat, or drilling rig has come to demand a measure more from his system or service. He may be getting it and not know it; he may not be getting it but thinks he is. Good communications, like good food, is an elusive creature. Just as in every other specialized field related to petroleum, communication has a vocabulary all its own, and a fair comprehension of this terminology is essential to a basic understanding of the subject. If the reader is not thoroughly familiar with the jargon used in the industry, he might benefit from looking over the short glossary at the end of this paper before proceeding. Some of the definitions are my own and may not have the same meaning to others. Even among communications specialists one can find disagreement over basic terminology. I would ask the expert reader to overlook any misnomers he may find and that the uninitiated accept the definitions as accurate within the scope of this paper. Telecommunications is not an end in itself. It has but one purpose in offshore activities: to provide a service to the user, and to do only to the level of sophistication needed, and at the lowest possible cost. Perhaps in no other service activity is it easier to misjudge what is best. Hence, the purpose of this paper: to try to sort out the myriad systems and services available offshore, define and evaluate each to a reasonable degree, and to make recommendations as to how to proceed for the several "predictable" types of offshore activities. We will try to take into account as many of the variables in the problem as possible such as the unfortunate variations in legal restrictions from place to place, and the differences in public communications service availabilities and costs. Finally, we will not delve too deeply into the technical aspects of communications.