Camcopter S-100 conducts flight trials in Nigeria

Schiebel has demonstrated the capabilities of its Camcopter S-100 UAS during flight trials around the coast of Rivers State in Nigeria, the company announced on 28 February.

According to Schiebel, the international oil and gas industry has shown increasing interest in employing UAS to effectively monitor and control oil and gas infrastructure, both onshore and offshore. The latest flight trials were designed to further investigate the implementation and potential advantages of UAS technology.

During the tests, the S-100 successfully completed a number of day and night flights monitoring pipeline rights-of-way (ROW), inspecting oil and gas wellheads/facilities and performing first-line maintenance checks including detection of leaks and fluid levels of storage tanks.

The UAS detected various third party illegal activities on the client’s pipeline ROW. Kongsberg Geospatial’s IRIS UAS situational awareness application supported the safe conduct of this beyond visual line of sight operation.

The Camcopter S-100 UAS offers enhanced capabilities for ISR missions in the oil and gas production environment.

Hans Georg Schiebel, chairman of the Schiebel Group, said: ‘Monitoring and maintaining remote oil and gas facilities is a challenging and dangerous task that can derive considerable benefits and cost-savings from the use of unmanned systems.  

‘As a proven and reliable platform, the Camcopter S-100 is perfectly suited for supporting key aspects such as infrastructure inspections, emergency response, security and surveillance.’