Establishment and Running of the Environmental Forecasting Center for Drilling Operations

Various aspects of offshore drilling operations, their dependence on oceanographical/meteorological parameters, and how reliable forecast of these parameters could save millions of dollars for the oil industry, have been discussed. A comparative study of the forecast parameters with the recorded data has been made. For a greater portion of the time, pressure, wind speeds, wave heights and wave periods lie within ± 1 mb, ± 2 km/h, ± 0.3 m and ± 1 s; respectively. Forecast wind and wave directions tally with the recorded data for more than 95 percent of the time. Monthly correlation coefficients and average percentage of deviations between the forecast and ship reported wind speeds, significant wave heights, and significant wave periods, have been determined.