Kongsberg Maritime, Seadrill, and Hanwha Drilling have formed a strategic alliance to develop the next generation of remote dynamic positioning technology for offshore drilling. The partnership is framed as an effort to move DP operations toward a global operating model where procedures, oversight, and control can be standardised and executed more consistently, while still meeting the safety demands of deepwater drilling environments.

 

Building the Technical and Regulatory Base for Remote DP

 

The alliance is focused on creating the technical architecture and the regulatory foundations needed for remote DP to be adopted safely. Remote DP introduces a different operating concept than traditional bridge-based DP, because it shifts elements of monitoring and control away from the rig itself. That change requires clear governance, verification, and auditability so operators and regulators can be confident that redundancy, response protocols, and decision authority remain robust in abnormal conditions.

 

What Each Partner Contributes to the Model

 

Kongsberg Maritime is bringing its DP, automation, and communications capabilities to the collaboration, while Seadrill and Hanwha Drilling contribute operational experience in running drilling units and managing DP-critical scenarios at sea. The intention is to turn technology into an operational model that can be repeated across fleets, creating centralised processes that reduce variability and support consistent execution rather than bespoke setups on each rig.

 

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Operational Rationale and Expected Benefits

 

The partners position remote DP as a way to reduce cognitive load on rig crews by shifting parts of the DP monitoring and decision workflow into a centralised structure supported by automation. The logic is that better decision support, more consistent procedures, and reduced onboard workload can strengthen safety margins and improve performance, particularly during complex operations where DP reliability is critical to station keeping and overall well execution.

 

How This Could Change Deepwater Cost and Risk Profiles

 

If remote DP can be implemented with strong safeguards, it may change the way deepwater assets are managed by enabling specialised DP expertise to be applied across multiple units and time zones, rather than being limited to the crew physically onboard each rig. That could improve risk management, reduce operational disruption linked to personnel constraints, and support higher utilisation by improving the consistency of DP operations, although the full value will depend on how reliably remote control pathways perform in real-world communications conditions.

 

What to Watch as the Alliance Moves Forward

 

The credibility of remote DP will be determined by how clearly the operating model defines accountability and how rigorously it proves performance under stress scenarios such as communications degradation, sensor faults, or rapid environmental changes. The next signals to watch are the development of standards, validation steps, and practical trials that demonstrate remote DP can deliver safety improvements and efficiency gains without introducing new systemic vulnerabilities.