OFFSHORE RADIOPOSITIONING SYSTEMS

Abstract

With the search for petroleum deposits in the world pushing farther offshore each year, the oil industry has answered the call with the development of dynamically positioned drill ships, hole re-entry techniques, and subsea completions. These developments are helping make deep water oil recovery a reality. Now, more than ever, there is a need for accurate, long-range radiopositioning systems so that deep water surveys and well locations can be conducted with the required accuracy.

Radiopositioning systems of the past decade include land-based systems such as Shoran, Raydist, Decca and Toran and the self- contained Satellite and Integrated systems. Recent developments for work in deeper water further offshore include Loran-C in the Range-Range mode and Differential Omega.