Terra Drone Brazil has successfully completed the country’s first-ever drone inspection of an offshore FPSO tank.
The ballast tank inspection using drones was conducted aboard P-66, a Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) unit from Petrobras that is operating in the Pre Salt Area at Santos Basin.
Traditionally, the inspection is done by sending a team of up to four men inside the confined tank space using scaffolds or rope access.
This kind of close-up visual inspection of one tank alone can take anywhere from half a day to a full day and also poses a safety threat to the workers meaning using drones can speed up the process and make it safer.
Marcelo Belleti, executive director at Terra Drone Brazil, commented: “Not only is drone inspection safer, but it is also much quicker and more precise than manual inspection. Further, drone inspections for cargo tanks can lead to potential cost-savings as well.”
Terra Drone Brazil completed the inspection of a ballast tanks for Petrobras in little over an hour with a team of only two men.
The high-definition pictures and videos captured by the drone ensured a quality deliverable report for all 40 points pre-defined for the close-up inspection.
