Towards the Optical Oil Field

Permanent seismic installations at the sea-floor have emerged as a potential tool for oil companies in their work to actively monitor oil/gas flows and injection processes in order to increase hydrocarbon recovery and optimize production. In-well sensors for the purpose of monitoring pressure and temperature, in addition to down-hole VSP sensors, are actively used during production. Almost all the existing technology which exists in connection with the instrumented oil field has been based on electrical components. The next step in technology development is to change all the in-sea and in-well sensors from electrical to optical sensing technology.