Houston Chronicle by Sergio Chapa May 7, 2019
The auto industry is testing self-driving cars. Big deal. The oil and gas industry is working on self-driving drillships.
The Houston oil field services company National Oilwell Varco said it plans to begin testing technology this summer that would allow it to place self-guiding, remote-controlled and automated drillships, which drill offshore wells, on the world’s oceans in just a few years time.
The testing will begin onshore in Norway and then on a ship in the North Sea, said National Oilwell Varco Chief Technology Officer Hege Kverneland at the Offshore Technology Conference on Monday.
“A lot of the operations and support activities that you’re doing on a drillship, you can support them from shore,†Kverneland said. “You could support several operations at the same time instead of physically being on the rig.â€
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https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/National-Oilwell-Varco-to-test-technology-to-13823985.php