Miros to supply Petrobras with oil spill detection systems

Sea-state monitoring specialist Miros Group has won a deal to supply eight oil spill detection (OSD) systems to Brazilian oil major Petrobras.

FPSO Cidade de Campos dos Goytacazes, one of Petrobras' MOPUs in the Campos basin / Photo by José Augusto Alves/Agência Petrobras

Miros said on Wednesday that the contract was “the world’s largest X-band radar-based OSD surveillance and response contract to date.”

The agreement is in partnership with Ulstein Belga Marine, the primary supplier to Petrobras, and includes radars and thermal imaging cameras for Petrobras mobile offshore production units (MOPUs) in the Campos Basin.

According to the company, the delivery and commissioning of the equipment is scheduled for 2019.

The backdrop for the record delivery is a February 2018 agreement reached between Petrobras and the Brazilian federal Environmental Agency Ibama, committing Petrobras to recently enhanced standards for controlling oil discharge in water.

Andreas Brekke, Miros CEO, said: “We have been supplying OSD systems since 2004, and this delivery signals a new milestone for Miros in partnership with Ulstein Belga Marine. Not only for the volume but for the significance of our common contribution in supplying a solution which will help Petrobras meet its environmental obligations to Ibama and the Brazilian government.”

According to the company, the OSD solution provides continuous day and night automatic oil spill detection and alerts using a combination of X-band radar, thermal imaging, AIS vessel tracking, and gyro-stabilized daylight and infrared cameras.

Miros systems are deployed on offshore installations, vessels or shore-based stations, either as standalone systems or as a part of a sensor network.

“Requirements to reduce the environmental impact from offshore activities are tightening everywhere. Miros OSD can help give authorities and operators alike the confidence that they are applying the best available technology to detect, control and recover oil spills,” added Brekke.