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July 2005 Project of the Month: OPTESS

Offshore Platforms Telemedicine Service via Satellite

Issues being addressed

The oil and gas industry today employs thousands of people representing a vital component of the worldwide economy. Worker safety and health are very important to this industry. One of the major exploration activity of this industry is held offshore thus requiring specific needs for remote/isolated sites. Healthcare in this sector is usually provided through a combination of emergency response services by means of helicopters and/or dedicated rescue or supply vessels that can take rapidly a patient in need of acute treatment to a onshore-based hospital or clinical facility.

Although crew safety remains paramount, oil and gas companies are looking at ways to improve the overall efficiency by decreasing the number of unnecessary medical evacuations while keeping the highest quality of crew care.

Telemedicine, linking offshore platforms with medical centres ashore, exploiting satellite telecommunication systems, provides the ideal opportunity for the European offshore industry as a whole to make substantial cost savings through reduced needs for evacuation, while more frequent monitoring and treatment of workers is done on board the platform thus improving the quality of healthcare on site. Implementing telemedicine systems also enables them to reassure workers and unions of company’s commitment to the worker’s health and safety.

Objectives

The main objective of the OPTESS service is to supply integrated solutions for medical consultations on board off-shore platforms, also considering legal and social aspects involved. The telemedicine service under validation is designed for oil and gas companies owning production facilities and for all companies operating drilling rigs and employing people in offshore sites. Offshore platforms (including drilling rigs) are in fact the primary target for the services to be deployed, nevertheless all the other remote sites where these oil and gas companies employ workers (such as oil tankers and remote terrestrial oil fields) will be considered. The project initially focuses on the European market (mainly on the North, the Adriatic and Mediterranean Sea), with a possible extension of the business to other regions (especially the ones where European companies have their sites, e.g. West Africa).

The off-shore sites where the service is available have been equipped with appropriate medical facilities (i.e. ECG, RX, ultrasound devices) and communication systems (VSAT). Links by means of satellite channels is established with chosen medical and emergency centres in Europe.

The Partnership

The Consortium is composed by organizations and private companies belonging to different countries of the EU, and having interests and access to most European Nations’ markets. The competencies of the consortium are well balanced in order to aggregate the different capabilities required for a telemedicine service in an offshore environment.

The aim of OPTESS is to validate the European market potential of the above described service by the end of the project. The participation of some end-users is fundamental in order to obtain their pertinent feedback so to improve the service. Meanwhile the test results together with the results of the market analysis will be used to finalise the deployment strategy and plan (including the Business Models) which will be discussed with them in proper meetings with both their medical and financial departments.

The envisaged supply chain for the final provision of the service is provided in the figure below.

Chronological Project Achievements so far

Finalization of the Membership agreement and definition of specific Memorandum of Understanding for the trial usage of the service in the pilot phase with the involved end users (Saipem and Total E&P UK)
Fruitful interaction with the end users for the understanding of their needs and the definition of the service (done through specific meetings and usage of specific checklist and questionnaires)
Definition of the user requirements and network architecture, within an heterogeneous approach in order to include in the OPTESS network also sites already installed with the same system (at the application layer) via terrestrial telecommunication infrastructure
Site surveys in all the sites of the network and site preparation in all the sites (including authorization request by owners of the building for the antenna installation, by local authorities, electrical work etc.)
Procurement of the telecommunication equipment, telemedicine workstation, software etc.
Starting of the site installation and configuration
Preliminary market survey
Definition of the Business Model
Contacts by other potential stakeholders (company already providing assistance to the oil and gas sector and other assistance companies, especially overseas)
Dissemination activities (so far participation to eChallenges, press release; future participation in September 2005 to Offshore Europe, the largest event in the offshore industry taking place in Aberdeen every two years; specific user workshop to be held before 2005 ends)

Future steps

Finalization of the installation phase and of the whole network
Full training of the involved personnel
Starting of the service provision based on the defined procedures
Feedback collection by the users and evaluation of the results
Preparation of the Final Deployment and Business Plans

Reference Data

http://www.optess.com
Contract Type: Market Validation
Start Date: 01/09/2004
End Date: 28/02/2006
Duration: 18 months