Skyports trials on-demand drone deliveries to North Sea oil rigs

UK drone delivery and advanced air mobility infrastructure startup Skyports has launched trials of on-demand UAV equipment provisioning flights to North Sea oil rigs in partnership with its Norwegian energy client, Equinor.  

The company said its Skyports Drone Services unit began the two-month series of test flights earlier in September, and has already completed scores of what are expected to be hundreds of deliveries to Equinor oil rigs with required equipment.

In addition to the principlel transport activity, the program will also explore other facets of the automated UAV operation process, including – once regulator approval has been obtained – navigation in heavy rain, fog, wind, and other hostile conditions.

Under the partnership, Skyports is staging daily, on-call drone flights of equipment, urgent supplies, and care packages for employees of Equinor’s Gullfaks oil field from a processing site in Norway’s the west coast city…