Virtual Reality Oil Platform Training

There are extreme risks and hazards associated with oil and gas operations. Due to operational hazards, companies must ensure that personnel is trained to operate heavy equipment and materials safely.

Transporting workers to offshore platforms by boat or helicopter is particularly expensive. In a cyclical industry with pronounced booms and busts, intensive training and new skill sets are required for workers who begin work on new and unfamiliar rigs, pipelines, or plants.

Today, workers must be trained in everything—from diversity through corporate values to the workings of installations in extremely remote locations, onshore and offshore.

Virtual reality training can provide contractors with a greater understanding of operations as well as the cause and effects of actions. In addition, virtual reality training takes place on-demand and in a controlled, risk-free atmosphere. This offers improved efficiency, high competitiveness, improved quality, and prevention of stop in production.

The opportunities in VR technology can provide trainees to experience and react to critical situations. Similarly, dangerous and life-changing emergencies such as oil spills may be recreated in an immersive environment, thereby educating trainees on how to properly respond to such events if they do occur.

Ultimately, the learner will be able to see, hear, and control the hands-on experience from a first-person perspective in the simulated environment, As a result, they will gain skills faster and increase knowledge and retention.

Our VR Oil Platform Training in virtual environments can help effectively prepare operators for challenging and potentially dangerous oil and gas processes and tasks. In our high-end simulation of an actual oil rig environment, trainees can master their skills. And, without being exposed to any risks both to themselves and to the equipment.

The goal was to solve the key issues that training experts face. Our virtual reality solution is a beneficial and powerful alternative training method which can resolve the major problems related to practical training.

For instance, a trainee can take virtual tour through the whole oil rig for familiarization. Simulations of pipe routing, equipment operation, fire safety and evacuation are all possible. Or, the rehearsal of an operation before it is scheduled to happen.

These are all hands-on scenarios that can educate and engage oil and gas industry trainees.

An important attribute of our immersive training is the multi-user feature. In fact, up to eight trainees can see each other’s avatar. And, in a fully immersive environment designed to enable solid teamwork by ensuring collaboration. The real-time participation and communication available can cinch effective training by supplying the virtual scenarios for learners remotely, despite location.

Oil platform trainees will get real-world practice without worrying about real-world consequences. In addition, at the end of each VR training the learner can receive instant feedback. This includes the results of decision-making ability as well as other specific variables that form the complete picture of the trainee’s qualifications.

“NB Group Ltd heads an international group covering Europe to the Far East. Their principal clients are the major international and national oil & gas companies and their engineering contractors. The principal activity is to provide as-built 3D laser scanning and intelligent 3D CAD modeling of their client’s processing facilities, both on and offshore.

In August 2017, 1000 Realities were selected to develop a Virtual Reality demonstrator of an offshore oil & gas wellhead platform. The demonstrator included many specialist tools specified by NB Group and designed to assist their client’s engineering design and employee training and familiarisation activities.

Since then the demonstrator has been developed to add more specialist tools and scenarios:

– Multi-user to permit worldwide users to meet ‘in the virtual plant’, avoiding travel costs
– Links to 3D scan point clouds from which the VR model was built
– Highly detailed components which can be dis/re-assembled
– Detailed plant removal sequence from live plant following a client’s written procedures

1000 Realities have produced several demonstrators for NB Group’s clients in the Middle and Far East incorporating these tools in models of the client’s plant.

NB Group worked closely with 1000 Realities on the specification and design of the VR
models and the technically advanced, highly detailed, specialist tools.

NB Group found 1000 Realities to be an excellent partner in these projects. Specifically:

– The VR models were highly realistic and of excellent quality
– They quickly learned technical concepts of which they had limited experience
– The tools matched the specification and their client’s expectations
– Their extensive knowledge and advice on VR technicalities were invaluable
– They were very responsive to their client’s requests and met tight deadlines

Personally, I have no hesitation in thanking 1000 Realities for both the top-quality product and the excellent service they provided especially their employees and the owners Justyna Janicka and Piotr Wójcik.”

Douglas Niven
Technical Director & Joint Owner