George Williamson, Manager of Upstream Engineering for BP.
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and robotics technology as inspection tools provide “a huge financial value” that helps reduce the necessity for shutdowns and start-ups. But more significant, Williamson said, is the health, safety, and environment (HSE) benefit.
“There’s always a story about not shutting down and starting up equipment. That’s where we have the maximum risk in our operations.” Williamson said, addressing the Energy Drone Summit, held recently in Houston, Texas. “Frankly, we have the potential of the biggest loss of our primary containment compared to the risk of a pinhole leak. So there’s huge HSE benefit to the managing of production, and of not having to swing that equipment in and out of service.”
Jacob Velky, Manager of Unmanned Aerial Systems for Duke Energy Corporation; John McClane, Security Specialist at Shell and Barrett Walker, Sr., ECM Business Analyst and UAS (Drone) Program Manager for Cheniere Energy, Inc. joined Williamson in the roundtable discussion; Landon Phillips, Chief Operating Officer for DataWing Global, moderated the session.
