DR I LLI N G AUTOMATION
Robotic system enhances safety
by keeping personnel out of red
zones on the drill floor during
offshore riser operations
Technology incorporates robots with visual
detection systems, adaptive control software
to automate repetitive bolting operations
BY JESSICA WHITESIDE, CONTRIBUTOR
Installing and removing the bolts that con-
nect the massive sections of a marine
drilling riser is a labor-intensive job that
requires crews to work with heavy equip-
ment and hydraulics in the restricted-
access “red zone,” where risk of injury is
high. Transocean is aiming to eliminate
that risk to personnel by handing the bolt-
ing task to robots instead, keeping work-
ers safely off the drill floor during riser
operations. The offshore driller partnered with
Houston-based ARC Specialties and
Offshore Robotics to develop the robotic
riser system, resulting in two designs for
use with flanged connections on NOV
and Cameron risers. The Cameron design
was deployed on Transocean’s Deepwater
Conqueror and Deepwater Poseidon ultra-
deepwater drillships in the Gulf of Mexico
in 2022. The NOV design was anticipated
to be deployed in July, also in the Gulf of
Mexico, for the first-ever riser deployment
of Transocean’s eighth-generation ultra-
deepwater drillship, Deepwater Titan. This
would mark the first application of the
robotic riser system on a rig with 20,000-
psi well control capabilities.
“It’s a very exciting time for Transocean
and the industry,” Travis McGuire,
Operations Performance Manager –
Special Projects for Transocean, said at
the 2023 IADC World Drilling Conference
in London in June. “It’s been an incredible
opportunity and experience.”
Manual riser bolting
challenges In deepwater drilling, connecting the
riser joints together may require hundreds
of bolts, each of which weighs approx-
imately 55 lb and must be torqued to
approximately 18,000 ft-lb – roughly 180
times more torque than a car wheel nut,
Mr McGuire said.
Traditional riser running or pulling
operations requires six crew members
working continuously in the red zone,
with additional people supporting the
operation, such as drillers, toolpushers,
crane operators, floorhands, roughnecks
and subsea engineers. Each thousand feet
of riser string deployed equates to about
eight hours of personnel exposure to the
red zone, where the heavy, repetitive work
of moving bolts and other equipment and
using a 250-lb torque wrench can leave
crew members susceptible to hand, finger,
foot or back injuries.
That’s a stark contrast to the robotic sys-
tem, which requires virtually no personnel
exposure to the red zone. Humans are only
needed if a validation or other check is
required, which would take up to a half-
hour, Mr McGuire said.
The robotic system also holds advan-
tages in terms of efficiency. It’s capable of
making up or breaking out 4-5 joints per
hour, compared with an average 3.5-4.5
joints per hour with manual handling.
Moreover, those crew members can now
use that time to work on other tasks, he
noted. “Those five and six people can now do
other activities that are much more valu-
able than picking up 55-lb bolts, putting
them into a hole, holding onto a torque
wrench and torquing up. We can do all of
that in a much more efficient manner.”
Transocean’s pursuit of a robotic riser
system was spurred in part by a fatality on
another company’s rig during riser opera-
tions in the Gulf of Mexico in 2020. That
incident prompted the question, “How do
we get people further away from heavy
iron and put them in a better place to do
their job?” Mr McGuire said.
How the robots work
Travis McGuire with Transocean talked at the 2023 IADC World Drilling Conference
in June about how the company is using a robotic riser system to automate bolt
installations and removals, thereby reducing personnel red zone exposure.
38 The patented system developed by
Transocean and its partners is set up
on the spider deck and incorporates two
large robotic arms. The arms are equipped
with tools that enable them to pick up and
manipulate the riser bolts and place stab-
bing guides to ensure proper alignment of
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2023 • DRILLING CONTRACTOR