Offshore network provider Tampnet claims to have deployed the world’s first fully autonomous private 5G and Edge compute for oil firm Aker BP in Norway.

The Stavanger-based company announced this week that it had installed private multi-Edge compute and 5G infrastructure on Edvard Grieg on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS).

Tampnet noted that it has a contract in place to extend this deployment to additional Aker BP-operated assets, including Yggdrasil, Fenris, Valhall, Alvheim, Ivar Aasen, and Skarv.

To date, Tampnet has deployed private 4G or 5G for oil and energy customers for more than 350 rigs and vessels.

The company operates offshore telecom infrastructure in the North Sea, the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America), Trinidad & Tobago, and Canada.

“Full wireless coverage opens up new possibilities of digital, intelligent and autonomous operations, and marks an important step in Aker BP’s digital transformation program,” said Thomas Øvretveit, SVP Operations, Aker BP.

According to Tampnet, its private 5G offering can enable full wireless coverage, both indoors and outdoors, while Edge compute allows for data to be processed offshore.

Other features include real-time support for sensor data and predictive maintenance, support for remote access to AI tools, and expert systems. Use cases that can be enabled include autonomous drones, robotics, digital twins, and augmented reality.

“Tampnet’s 5G Edge infrastructure is more than a connectivity project. It’s an enabler for oil and gas companies to scale advanced use cases such as remote operations, AI-based optimization, and dynamic reservoir monitoring,” said Per Atle Sørensen, managing director North Sea at Tampnet.

At the end of May, Tampnet selected Mavenir Telecom as its key technology partner to provide its Converged Packet Core solution for immediate deployment across its global 4G/5G network.