BMT Joins Forces with Met Office and Oceanweather

BMT ARGOSS, a subsidiary of BMT Group Ltd, has announced a joint initiative with the Met Office, the UK's national weather service, and Oceanweather Inc, to help support oil and gas majors with offshore engineering design and operational planning in the mid-Atlantic region.

The main deliverable of this project, entitled the Mid-Atlantic Current Hindcast (MACH), is a 20-year high quality ocean current reanalysis for the mid-Atlantic region, with nested high resolution grids covering principal oil and gas concession areas.

Image: Example current flow stream from MACH 1/36 degree model grid at 70m depth.

Robin Stephens, Metocean Group Manager at BMT ARGOSS explains: "In recent years, ocean modelling technology has significantly advanced - therefore we recognised the importance and timeliness of conducting a comprehensive, new West Africa ocean current hindcast. Much of the oil and gas activity in this region is in deep water and involves the design, installation and operation of floating production systems with substantial subsea components such as risers and moorings, both of which are very susceptible to current-induced loadings. By simulating ocean current, temperature and salinity in profile we can provide customers with a long term simulation which has been validated and optimised against data that has been measured in the region."

Following completion of a pilot two year integration and a detailed validation study against available concurrent in-situ current measurements, a full 20-year integration is underway to produce an ocean current hindcast database, suitable for use in offshore engineering and operational planning.

Arwel Griffiths, Business Development Director at the Met Office comments: "This initiative is an exciting opportunity to demonstrate to the oil and gas community our technical credentials in ocean modelling.
With BMT ARGOSS' extensive experience in providing metocean services, Oceanweather's strong standing in the provision of high integrity wind and wave hindcast data, and the Met Office's world class science and forecasting expertise, we are confident that we can provide oil and gas customers with a robust ocean simulation which will help them plan future projects."

With an initial focus on the West Africa region, the hindcast will provide a strong framework for conducting fine resolution modelling in other parts of the mid-Atlantic basin, including Brazil.