Following the highly successful implementation of our METNET 3G weather systems on Shell Exploration and Production in Europe installations in the northern, central and southern parts of the UK sector, Muir Matheson is now implementing our PACE weather system software on a further four Shell EPE installations in the Dutch sector, adding them to the METNET 3G web based system.

METNET 3G is a networked safety-critical system linked to the Adverse Weather Working Policy (AWWP). It currently provides real-time metocean data in the form of wind, wave, temperature and pressure measurements for 21 Shell EPE offshore installations in the UK sector of the North Sea.

Project Manager, Jeanette Yuile, explains more: “The AWWP dictates when particular operations offshore can and cannot take place. Each offshore activity has a number of different thresholds; for example when wave heights reach a certain level operations must cease. Information from METNET 3G is therefore an essential contributor to decision making and is used daily to assist with safety, planning and the execution of a wide range of activities. For example, helicopter flight schedules are determined on a daily basis using METNET 3G information.

We conduct daily checks on the data returns, therefore any anomalies can be picked up immediately and quickly rectified, while the standardised equipment that we are installing optimises maintenance and ensures consistency of data. Muir Matheson’s WebMET system which collects, archives and displays real time Metocean data over the internet and other networks is now firmly established as a real time system.

“In essence, the METNET 3G system with its real time data determines at any given moment, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, whether or not conditions are suitable for particular operations,” continued Jeanette. “The system has earned the confidence of Shell offshore employees – indeed more than 98% of the data returns are accepted to be of very high quality.”

Muir Matheson’s contract with Shell covers all aspects of METNET 3G including the provision of their own PACE software, hardware, system engineering, field maintenance and data archiving. The priority in 2004/2005 was to implement upgraded METNET 3G software and display systems to Shell EPE installations in the UK sectors. The ongoing upgrades to the four installations in the Dutch sector should be completed by April 2006.

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