Satellites to provide daily monitoring of ....

09 September 2010, 9:18am

Image detailing recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico - Copyright Spot Image

Satellites to provide daily monitoring of onshore and offshore assets

* AssetMonitor now offers a new 'Daily Response' satellite service for visibility of potential hazards in the exploration market

* New satellite-enabled risk management service sets industry surveillance standard for monitoring onshore and offshore assets such as oil drilling operations

* Utilises high resolution imagery with daily revisits to provide a clear timeline of potential drilling spills or pipeline leakage

Astrium Services' wholly owned subsidiary, Infoterra Ltd, has launched a new high resolution satellite imaging service that provides the oil, gas, energy and mining sector with early visibility of potential risk associated with operations.

AssetMonitor TM 'Daily Response' is the first risk management service to offer a daily revisit capability, setting a new surveillance standard in the satellite monitoring of onshore and offshore operations, and providing organisations with a clear timeline of potential drilling spills or pipeline leakage.

TerraSAR-X image showing tankers transferring oil with support vessels nearby - demonstrating high levels of detail possible with Infoterra's new AssetMonitor service

"The moratorium on new deepwater drilling imposed by the US Government and other recent incidents have continued to strengthen demands for a more integrated risk management approach for offshore and maritime oil operations," commented Daniel Hughes, Business Development Manager for Exploration Services at Infoterra Ltd.

"We believe that the launch of our new AssetMonitor 'Daily Response' service directly addresses the needs of oil companies, the broader energy industry and their partners in the Government and Insurance sectors for new levels of accuracy in the surveillance of offshore oil operations, and we're anticipating that AssetMonitor's 'Daily Response' service will quickly become an essential component in any fully integrated risk management approach to best practice offshore and maritime oil operations."

Infoterra's 'Daily Response' service will be offered on an annual managed services basis, and will be available for oil and exploration companies needing daily monitoring of their operations to detect changes. It will also benefit insurance firms looking for a best practice approach to managing their considerable policy risks, as well as public sector and environmental organisations needing to monitor specific operations for compliance purposes.

Unlike traditional earth observation systems that offer broad coverage and ever-finer detail, Infoterra's new 'Daily Response' service unlocks the power of satellite data such as Spot, Formosat 2 and TerraSAR-X satellites to provide customers with both high-resolution images and a daily revisit capability. The ability to acquire repeat imagery every day using the same sensor - from the same angle and under the same lighting conditions - guarantees a timely flow of compatible data. This is particularly applicable in the support of emergency incidents, where it is imperative that activities are closely monitored to assist clean-up operations.

The Formosat 2 satellite, for example, crosses the equator at 09.30am every day, increasing its chance of acquiring accurate oil spillage data in equatorial regions before convective clouds typically have a chance to form. Where there is cloud cover, TerraSAR-X synthetic aperture radar satellites, will see through clouds day and night and where needed can monitor incidents and assist emergency services in environmental clean-up operations.

For its new AssetMonitor 'Daily Response' service, Infoterra also ensures it has access to a broad range of satellites, for daily monitoring of onshore & offshore assets with oil slick analysis services on a 24/7 basis.

Infoterra is a world leader in the provision of offshore oil seepage information products for the oil exploration industry, and has developed the market's pre-eminent Global Seeps Database that covers over 60 million km2 of the world's offshore basins over the last 20 years. Infoterra first launched the specialist service AssetMonitor in April 2010, initially to protect valuable underwater assets such as oil and gas pipelines from accidental damage by anchors and fishing activity using an online AIS service.

Taking full advantage of the resources and skills offered by Spot Image and Infoterra, the Geo-information division of Astrium Services has become a recognised world leader in the geo-information market by offering decision-makers sustainable solutions to increase security, protect the environment and better manage natural resources. It has exclusive access to Spot and TerraSAR-X satellite data, while also calling on a full gamut of space data sources and airborne acquisition capabilities, enabling it to offer an unrivalled combination of Earth observation products and services. Its portfolio spans the entire geo-information value chain.

By building on the synergy of Astrium Services, the Geo-information division can also develop innovative solutions combining Earth observation, navigation and communication applications at competitive prices.

www.astrium.eads.net

AssetMonitor

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