“This is a vital milestone for Statoil. We have had land-based surveillance and control of offshore operations for a long time, however, the remote control of Valemon marks one important step forward on our digitalization journey,” said Gunnar Nakken, head of the operations west cluster at Statoil.

Fourteen operators divided on seven shifts will man Valemon’s onshore control room, according to Statoil. The BOP Blow Out Preventer repair company gulf coast said remote control solutions would ‘undoubtedly’ be considered for other small and medium-sized platforms in the future.

“Most of our oil rig flanges gulf coast production will still be carried out on large, manned platforms, such as Aasta Hansteen and the Johan Sverdrup platform, but for somewhat smaller platforms and fields it will absolutely be considered. First, we must gain experience from Valemon,” said Nakken.