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Walkinside® software to reduce operational risks and costs and improve operational efficiency for offshore oil platforms, FPSOs, and subsea systems
HOUSTON, Texas, February 23, 2009 – Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras), the Brazilian international energy company, has standardized on Walkinside 3D Virtual Reality software from VRcontext International SA for safety analysis, design changes, and asset life-cycle operation for its Offshore Production and Exploration business units.
Petrobras (NYSE: PBR/PBRA), the world’s eighth largest oil company and a long-time VRcontext customer, completely endorses Walkinside 3D modeling and visualization, publishing it in the Proteus web-portal for asset process management, safety, and enhanced solutions that enable more efficient operation, inspection, and maintenance of its semi-submersibles and FPSOs. Petrobras elected to integrate the powerful Walkinside technology into its Proteus Project because of the software’s unique combination of attractive functionalities. These include agile, intuitive, user-driven navigation inside massive models built from very diverse CAD, laser-scan, and digital-image data and formats, as well as the ability to navigate via human avatars with gravity- and collision-constrained movement inside the asset. The avatars move as if they were on-site operators, greatly facilitating field personnel safety review, pre-handover training, and remote collaboration during asset operation.
Establishing two-way links between the Walkinside VR models and external applications, such as the FLACS CFD simulation software from GexCon, enables Petrobras to modify its engineering design to accommodate evacuation routes and personnel safety by simulating emergency situations and optimizing remediation procedures for catastrophic events.
A pioneer and leader in large-scale drilling platforms and FPSOs, Petrobras is aggressively expanding its capacity to produce offshore structures and vessels so that it can tap the rich potential of a new discovery in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as its deep-water fields offshore Brazil, which are among the largest fields in the world. To meet the challenges of these environments, increasingly sophisticated platforms with exceptionally dense and complex structural and outfitting designs will be required; and VRcontext’s powerful, flexible, and intuitive solutions are ideally suited.
François Lagae, VRcontext CEO, said, “We are proud to play an integral role in helping Petrobras meet or exceed its increased oil-production objectives by expediting the design-to-production cycles of major capital projects, while safeguarding field personnel, asset integrity, and the environment.”
“The need to safely and fully develop Petrobras’ existing fields and new discoveries is increasingly important, and we look forward to providing the advanced remote-operation solutions that will help bring new energy resources to market,” added Marc de Buyl, VRcontext Executive Vice President.
About Petrobras
Petrobras SA is a Brazil-based international energy company that performs in a profitable manner, with social and environmental responsibility. The eighth largest oil company and the eighth most respected company in the world, Petrobras operates in 27 countries. The 54-year-old company produces more than two million barrels of oil per day and is traded on the world’s major stock exchanges. For more information, please visit www.petrobras.com.
About the PROTEUS Project
The Petrobras Project Automation group – within the Automation and Surface Installations Engineering Management from Technical Support at UN-RIO – created PROTEUS (Projeto de Tecnologias Unificadas – Unified Technologies Project) to integrate critical technologies for optimized Project Management, Plant Safety Evaluation, Engineering Design Change, and Project Information Management.
PROTEUS employs 3D visualization software that is customized and integrated with the E&P documentation and management system, the production unit supervisory system, and the business solutions software, to enable immediate access to, and control of, information related to major offshore asset operation, maintenance, and inspection activities throughout the entire production unit life cycle. For more information: Paulo Robert Oliveira de Araujo, Manager of Petrobras Project Automation Group at UN-RIO (
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About VRcontext
VRcontext International SA is the leading global provider of engineering and geospatial software that enables customers to visualize complex data. Over 200 businesses and governments in more than 30 countries rely on VRcontext’s industry-specific software to organize vast amounts of data into understandable visual representations and actionable intelligence. VRcontext software and services empower customers to build and operate more efficient plants and ships, create intelligent 3D models, and protect critical infrastructure and millions of people around the world. For more information, visit www.vrcontext.com.
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