Advantage of RFID for Petrobras

The benefits of introducing RFID technology in Petrobras is that the newsystem is reliable and user friendly, the technology is available and well-functioned in depth and last, but not least reduces the cost for the oil company. Weatherford is familiar with the RFID technology. The firm has already developed a passive RFID tag for Marathon Oil Corporation to build electronically controlled drilling reamers to be either activated or deactivated. After the activation, the reamer extends its cutters in order to widen a hole being drilled. When that function is required, an RFID tag is dropped down the hole. The tag passes through the internal diameter of the drill stem around which a reader is installed, capturing the ID number encoded to the tag. Based on the tag's specific ID number, the module causes the reamer to extend or retract its cutters. The name of the system involving RFID technology is  RipTide system which has been tested extensively with Marathon Oil at an oil-drilling site in North Dakota.  

Petrobras is eager to introduce RFID in order to quickly identify assets. By tagging the drill pipes with RFID tags and reading them as they are sent to an offshore rig, the company could generate reports regarding the equipment's location, status, temperature and amount of the streaming oil as well. In addition, Weatherford's technicians and maintenance personnel could use the system to quickly identify when any specific pipe was last inspected or maintained, and update the record in the database accessed by handheld RFID readers in order to avoid any non-functionality.
 

The data of the RFID tag is the following. Each pipe is fitted by a 134.5 kHz RFID tag compliant with the ISO18000-2 standard, provided by Trac ID. Measuring 24 millimeters (1 inch) in diameter, Trac ID's drill-pipe tag is designed to be rugged enough to withstand the pressure and heat in an oil well. The tags can then be read using an RFID interrogator built into an SDG Systems Trimble (TDS) Nomad handheld computer. An ID number encoded to each tag is linked to data about the pipe to which it is attached, involving its size and maintenance history.