Petrobras Opts for RFID

Weatherford International, Inc. a global provider of products and services for oil and natural gas wells, is introducing the RFID to track its drill pipes which are used at offshore oil rigs owned by global energy company Petrobras, headquartered in Brazil. The system is based on the Trac ID System, a Norwegian provider of RFID solutions. Weatherford provides thousands of pieces of equipment leased to companies throughout the world, and also offers inspection services and maintenance for those assets as they are used on customers' work sites.

Weatherford uses enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to track its equipment, manage data regarding all equipment and numbers marked on the pipes themselves. However,in case of contracting with Petrobras for an offshore drilling project, projected to begin in late 2010, Petrobras, the drill company required an RFID-based system to track each item used at its offshore sites. By utilizing RFID technology to track its own product, the contractor could better assure Petrobras that the proper equipment was on the platform, and that it could be located easily for the maintenance purposes. The RFID system offers an automated method for tracking when each piece of equipment is maintained and inspected, in addition to the amount of wear resulting from heavy use.

Petrobras, Brazil's leading energy company, off-shore drilling company, has several oil and gas field in the Cmapo basin. In 2006 it has total proved reserves of 15 billion barrels and in 2007 the company had market capitalization of more than $200 billion.



Source: http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/view/7945
http://www.aimms.com/references/case-studies/petrobras-movigas