Nexans Spider Uses CompactRIO for Dredging System Level Seabed for Oil and Gas Exploration

  National Instruments LabVIEW and CompactRIO to control hydraulic systems on the Nexans Spider remote operated vehicle (ROV) as it levels the seabed and clears a path for the pipeline.

In 1997, the Ormen Lange gas field was discovered off the western coast of Norway. It was the second-largest natural gas discovery on the Norwegian shelf and has the potential to produce around 20 billion cubic meters of gas each year. Ormen Lange, which means “the long serpent,” is approximately 40 kilometers long and eight kilometers wide and lies about 1,000 meters below sea level.

The gas field will be operational in 2007 and will be equipped with seabed installations at depths ranging from 800 to 1,100 meters. The gas will be transferred through a pipeline from production platforms to a processing plant at Nyhamna, Norway, and then exported via a 1,200-kilometer undersea pipeline to Easington on the east coast of the United Kingdom, and to other locations on the coast of continental Europe via a distribution center on the island of Sleipner in the North Sea.

Read the full case study