Petrobras Standardizes on VRcontext 3D Virtual Reality
February 23 2009 - 9:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
HOUSTON, Feb. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Petroleo Brasileiro SA
(Petrobras), the Brazilian international energy company, has
standardized on Walkinside(R) 3D Virtual Reality software from
VRcontext International SA for safety analysis, design reviews, and
asset life-cycle management for its Offshore Exploration and
Production Business Units. Petrobras (NYSE:PBR/PBRA), the world's
eighth largest oil company, has published Walkinside software in
its Proteus web-portal to help reduce operational risks and costs
and to enable more efficient operation, inspection, and maintenance
of its offshore oil platforms, FPSOs, and subsea systems.
Walkinside technology provides Petrobras intuitive, user-driven
navigation inside massive models built from very diverse CAD,
laser-scan, and digital- image data and formats. Human avatars,
with gravity- and collision- constraints, move inside the asset as
if they were on-site operators, greatly facilitating field
personnel safety review, pre-handover training, and remote
collaboration during asset operation. A pioneer and leader in
large-scale drilling platforms and FPSOs, Petrobras is aggressively
expanding its capacity to produce offshore structures and vessels
so that it can tap the rich potential of a new discovery in the
Gulf of Mexico, as well as its deep-water fields offshore Brazil,
which are among the largest fields in the world. To meet the
challenges of these environments, increasingly sophisticated
platforms with exceptionally dense and complex structural and
outfitting designs will be required. "Establishing two-way links
between the Walkinside VR models and external applications, such as
the FLACS CFD simulation software from GexCon, enables Petrobras to
modify its engineering design to accommodate evacuation routes and
to enhance personnel safety by simulating emergency situations and
optimizing remediation procedures for catastrophic events," said
Paulo Roberto Oliveira de Araujo, manager of Petrobras' Project
Automation Group at UN-RIO. He added, "We are currently planning
the full deployment of Walkinside technology, which will
significantly help us improve safety and increase operational
efficiency, while reducing costs and optimizing oil production."
Francois Lagae, VRcontext CEO, said, "We are proud to play an
integral role in helping Petrobras meet or exceed its increased
oil-production objectives by expediting the design-to-production
cycles of major capital projects, while safeguarding field
personnel, asset integrity, and the environment." "The need to
safely and fully develop Petrobras' existing fields and new
discoveries is increasingly important, and we look forward to
providing the advanced remote-operation solutions that will help
bring new energy resources to market," added Marc de Buyl,
VRcontext executive vice president. About Petrobras Petrobras SA
(http://www.petrobras.com/) is a Brazil-based international energy
company that performs in a profitable manner, with social and
environmental responsibility. The eighth largest oil company and
the eighth most respected company in the world, Petrobras operates
in 27 countries. The 54-year-old company produces more than two
million barrels of oil per day and is traded on the world's major
stock exchanges. About VRcontext VRcontext International SA
(http://www.vrcontext.com/) is a leading global provider of
engineering and geospatial software that enables customers to
visualize complex data. Over 200 businesses and governments in more
than 30 countries rely on VRcontext's industry-specific software to
organize vast amounts of data into understandable visual
representations and actionable intelligence. DATASOURCE: VRcontext
CONTACT: Paulo Roberto Oliveira de Araujo of Petrobras, +55
21-3876-1890, ; or Marc de Buyl of VRcontext, +1-713-494-6299, Web
site: http://www.vrcontext.com/ http://www.petrobras.com/
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