Ouro Negro, a Brazilian technology company focused on the development of innovative solutions for the oil and gas industry, is taking part for the first time in the Offshore Technology Conference – OTC 2017.

At the world’s premier offshore industry event, Ouro Negro will present its award-winning MODA (Direct Optical Wire Monitoring) system, one of the pioneering solutions for the pre-salt used by Petrobras, which received an Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) Distinguished Achievement Award in 2015. This solution also won a National Oil, Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANP) award in 2014 for its innovative qualities.

Created in 2010 as a result of the merger of four spin-offs from the renowned laboratories of the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), Ouro Negro provides equipment and structural integrity monitoring solutions, subsea engineering, well completion and power laser systems.

“Developed in partnership with Cenpes-Petrobras, the MODA system, based on fiber optic sensor technology, is the solution offered by Ouro Negro for monitoring flexible riser integrity”, explains Eduardo Costa, CEO of Ouro Negro. “We have supplied more than 200 of these systems for platforms operated by Petrobras in the pre-salt area of the Santos basin”, the executive calculates.

The MODA generates a large volume of real-time information on riser integrity, signaling any alteration that indicates risks of the rupture of these structures that transport hydrocarbons from wells to FPSO-type platforms. “With this systems, we support decision-making, minimizing risks of accidents and reducing costs due to production stoppages”, complements Eduardo Costa.

“We are a technology company that focuses on the generation of solutions that boost the oil industry’s core business; the onshore and exploration and production of oil and natural gas - onshore and offshore - , with lower costs, higher levels of safety and reliability and lower economic and operational risks”, the executive highlights.

According to Costa, the global challenges and new opportunities in the energy sector will create a tipping point in the oil industry, which needs to restructure itself due to the situation created by the crisis caused by low oil prices. “Solutions such as the MODA are perfectly suited to the needs of the oil and gas sector, which is increasingly in thrall to the Industry 4.0 concept”, he concludes.