In 2008 bp finished construction and commissioned the longest oil and gas dedicated submarine fiber optic network in the world. The system initially linked seven of bp’s deepwater platforms with the bp enterprise via cable landing stations in Mississippi and Texas. Starting in 2009 with other oil and gas producers have since connected to the network expanding it to sixteen platforms, with more connections underway. In addition, an LTE provider is now using GoM Fiber to build and operate an offshore LTE infrastructure. This infrastructure allows GoM Fiber capacity to be extended to vessels, other platforms, individual devices and other IOT.



Performance and capability



The ability to deliver up to 100 Gbps of connectivity to offshore platforms.

Less than 20 ms round trip latency for an 80% reduction in application response time.

Ability support over forty platforms and add additional branching units.

Ability to support wireless technologies allowing extension of capacity.



Key design

Backbone cable of over 1200 kilometers in water depths of near 2000 meters.

21 branching units (2 installed after commissioning) and 25 repeaters.

Spurs off of branching unit up to 150 kilometers in length without repeaters.



Reliability

Proven survivability even during severe weather.

System is powered by fault tolerant redundant landing stations in Mississippi and Texas.

Buried to a target of one meter in water depths up to 800 meters.

The system is surface laid in water depths exceeding 800 meters.

Armored cable end to end.

Spurs that tie in individual facilities connect to the main trunk cable with branching units.

Protecting the network

A continued risk GoM Fiber is from external aggression such as fishing, pipeline crossings, anchors and other materials on the seabed being laid or dragged across the cable. bp provides route location data for easier project planning including maps and a database for detailed coordinates.

If you find that a crossing can't be avoided, contact a member of the team and they'll work with you to complete the sample crossing agreement and determine proper protection methods.

Expanding GoM Fiber

bp is eager to find ways to use GoM Fiber to support connectivity needs for oil and gas and other industries. If you have a use case you would like to investigate with bp, please contact bp to discuss. We feel the full potential of GoM Fiber is just waiting for the right opportunity. We are interested in expanding with more platforms as well as enabling new innovative ideas.



Contacts

Email: gomfiber@bp.com

Phone: Toll free +1 877 4BP NTWK (+1 877 427–6895)