據9月28日NS Energy報道，雖然之前在鉆井平臺自動化的全面推廣方面進展緩慢，但石油公司現在開始為海上設施配備自主鉆井控制系統。

石油鉆井平臺的自動化有可能使海上鉆井變得更加安全和高效，雖然，這一領域的進展一直不穩定。如今，自動化鉆井控制(ADC)系統在北海石油鉆井平臺上的應用有望取得一定進展。《世界快報》撰稿人威爾·莫菲特（Will Moffitt）與海事咨詢集團dnvgl的石油和天然氣高級專家perivar Halleland進行了交談，討論了這項技術在21世紀石油鉆井平臺上的諸多好處，以及可能會遇到的一些阻礙。

30多年過去了，派珀·阿爾法(Piper Alpha)石油鉆井平臺的災難仍令人記憶猶新。海底石油和天然氣管道破裂，把這個曾經閃閃發光的1.4萬噸產能的石油鉆井平臺變成了熊熊燃燒的火海，最后變成了被北海冰冷海水包裹的廢墟。這場災難奪去了167人的生命,到目前為止，它仍然是歷史上最嚴重的石油鉆井平臺事故, 它時刻向人們警示著當工程系統出現故障時，海上鉆井平臺上的工人所面臨的危險。

類似災難如2010年墨西哥灣的“深水地平線”鉆井平臺爆炸事故，都在敦促各國政府和行業專家重新評估避免此類災難的措施。而實現這一目標的一種方法是利用自動化系統，越來越多的海上石油鉆井平臺的建造者開始在其結構上裝備自動化管道處理和脫扣系統，以消除人工干預的需要，并減少事故的發生。

事實上，當談到自動化系統的潛在用途時，這些適度的改進只是冰山一角。例如，挪威石油天然氣公司Equinor最近推出了首個完全自助的海上鉆井平臺，該平臺能夠在很少或不需要員工的情況下進行鉆井作業。

與此同時，道達爾正在北海試用一種機器人，它可以讀取刻度盤、儀表和閥門位置，并能獨立檢測天然氣泄漏。

王佳晶 摘譯自 NS Energy

原文如下：

How automation can make 21st-century offshore oil rigs safer and more efficient

While progress has previously been slow in rolling out the full capabilities of rig automation, oil firms are now starting to equip offshore installations with autonomous drilling control systems

Automation of oil rigs has the potential to make offshore drilling safer and more efficient, and yet, progress in this area has been fitful. Now, the introduction of automated drilling control (ADC) on North Sea oil rigs promises some measure of progress. World Expro writer Will Moffitt talks to Per Ivar Halleland, senior expert for oil and gas at maritime advisory group DNV GL, about the myriad benefits of this technology aboard 21st-century oil rigs, and the challenges that could stifle further implementation.

More than 30 years on, the footage of the Piper Alpha disaster is no less visceral. Ruptures to underlying oil and gas pipelines turned this once glinting, 14,000-tonne oil rig into a blazing inferno, and then a smouldering ruin lapped by the chilly waters of the North Sea. Speaking to The Guardian on the anniversary of the incident, survivor Charles Haffey described the eruption as “a welder’s blow torch” magnified by “thousands of times”.

Claiming 167 lives, the Piper Alpha disaster remains the deadliest oil rig accident in history, and it starkly revealed the dangers faced by workers on offshore drilling platforms when faulty engineering systems are at play – in particular, what can happen when a safety valve on a condensate injection pump is released without anyone knowing, spewing thousands of cubic feet of gas into the air.

The recurrence of similar disasters, most notably the 2010 explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizonin the Gulf of Mexico, has led governments and industry experts to reassess how such calamities can be avoided.

One way to do this is through automation – increasingly, builders of offshore oil rigs are starting to equip their structures with automated pipe-handling and tripping systems to eliminate the need for human intervention, and to reduce the volume of accidents on board.

In fact, these modest improvements are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the potential uses for automated processes. Norwegian oil and gas company Equinor, for instance, has recently launched the first fully-autonomous offshore platform capable of performing drilling operations with little or no staff members.

Meanwhile, French multinational Total is trialling a robot in the North Sea that can read dials, gauges and valve positions, and detect gas leaks independently.