Superior Energy Services of Houston, Texas, took delivery of one of the most advanced maritime training simulators ever developed, in April 2012. The next-generation simulator from Kongsberg Maritime will be used to provide integrated, real-time training for Superior’s offshore marine personnel at its new facility in Anchorage, Alaska.
Under the terms of the contract, signed September 2011, Kongsberg Maritime supplied Superior Energy Marine Technical Services with a full mission trainer in support of critical operations including ship bridge maneuvering and navigation, anchor handling, ROV operations, crane operations, process control, containment, and controlled pumping and flaring of hydrocarbons.
The system supports the full spectrum of offshore Simultaneous Operations (SIMOPS) activities in support of developing best practices for both surface and sub-sea marine practices – all conducted in real time and in the safety of a simulated environment. The simulator features two full offshore service vessel bridges, with 360 degree field of view, an offshore crane simulator, supplied by KONGSBERG company, GlobalSim, a DeepWorks ROV simulator, supplied to KONGSBERG by Fugro Subsea Services Ltd and a separate Process Simulator, for operator training and control system checkout in addition to multiphase flow simulation, supplied by Kongsberg Oil & Gas Technologies.
Superior’s working relationship with Shell Offshore was a primary motivator in establishing this state-of-the-art facility. Superior is committed to achieving a safe work environment and these core objectives were incorporated in the system design: “At Superior Energy Services, we believe in ensuring our people are as prepared and properly trained as possible. It makes sense from a safety perspective, from an environmental perspective and from a business perspective – it is simply the right thing to do,” said Captain Scott Powell.
“Partnering with Kongsberg Maritime provided a depth of engineering capability that allowed us to mirror a physical model-based simulation solution. This is the closest we can come to creating realistic scenarios without facing these circumstances first hand. Our people will be the best prepared in the industry and will have full confidence in the critical skills they will learn with this state-of-the-art simulator. This multi-team training capability will have a net positive effect on our preparedness and our commitment to health, safety and the environment,” continues Powell.
The KONGSBERG Offshore Vessel Simulator allows companies to train employees for the highly technical and often hazardous operations they will encounter in the offshore environment. Kongsberg Maritime simulators are designed to provide realistic scenarios for a wide variety of environmental applications.