Support for a research and development project announced today by the Provincial Government will benefit those who travel to and work in the province’s offshore oil and gas production sector.
Wood’s Met-Ocean and Digital Environmental Solutions business provides meteorological and oceanographic services to the province’s offshore oil and gas industry. To assist the group’s research and development efforts to advance an innovative shore-based digital weather observing service, the Provincial Government provided a non-repayable contribution of $86,272 to the project.
Currently, weather monitoring and forecasting are conducted using separate processes and technologies. To achieve the goal of providing timely and accurate warnings of storms that approach and transit the offshore from ocean regions, the company will use digital techniques, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning and quality control, to integrate information from three unique sources – in-situ sensor data, remotely sensed data, and prediction model data. According to the company, this integration will allow for a more accurate, highly automated, and shore-based digital weather observing and forecasting service that will be of benefit to the safety of the province’s offshore oil and gas industry.
Located in St. John’s, Wood’s Met-Ocean and Digital Environmental Solutions business is the largest private sector weather forecasting company in Canada, with over 100 technical employees, including scientists, engineers, technologists and software developers.
Quotes
“This project, which brings all weather tracking sources under one roof, will provide a more accurate, far reaching, and cost effective method for forecasting weather for our offshore. We are pleased to support this innovative project that will improve flight and planning for drilling operations across the board.”
Honourable Andrew Parsons
Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology
“Our goal with this project is to harness emerging sources of digital data from satellites and surface-based sensors to calibrate our forecasting service to offshore industry, and by so doing, contribute to improved offshore safety, efficiency and environmental protection.”
Terry Bullock
Principal Meteorologist, Wood’s Met-Ocean and Digital Environmental Solutions business
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Media contacts
Eric Humber
Industry, Energy and Technology
709-729-2691
Lauren Gallagher
Wood PLC
press.office@woodplc.com