Enertag - Electronic Identification and Tracking Solutions

Enertag, a French technology service company, provides electronic identification and tracking solutions (ITS) to the oil and gas industry from seabed to surface. Its technology allows subsea identification and traceability of strategic industrial assets operating in rough environments.

The identification and tracking solution (ITS) developed by Enertag can be used with any type of offshore equipment and offers:

• Increased safety
• Automated inventory
• Auditable inspection records

Identification and tracking solution (ITS)

Enertag’s ITS assists oil and gas companies with the repair, maintenance, inventory, mapping, inspection and commissioning of subsea strategic assets. Subsea assets need to be annually inventoried in order to quickly identify safety hazards, and easily located for scheduled inspections.

Efficient inspection, maintenance and repair works are required to avoid disasters, drilling accidents, production disruptions and green hazards. In addition, Enertag’s ITS ensures companies in the oil and gas industry are modernising their control and monitoring systems.

Identification, inspection, repair and maintenance tracking and waterproof passive tag

Enertag’s ITS system has a waterproof passive tag that can be attached to any type of subsea equipment. The tag can be placed on umbilical cables, pipelines or flow lines, as well as subsea BOP, manifold and control systems for purposes of identification, inspection, repair and maintenance tracking.

Enertag’s waterproof passive tag consists of an antenna associated with an electronic chip. This assembly can receive and respond to radio requests emitted by the transceiver or reader. Each tag has a non-alterable and unique identification number (UID).

In addition to the UID, other data according to the waterproof passive tag’s use can be stored in non-volatile memory. Tags are encapsulated in a very high density block of resin combined with a shield device, which protects electromagnetic waves from the disturbing influence of the metallic mass of the environment.

Software system for identification tags

Enertag’s ITS has a software system to collect, organize and log all of the information related to the tags. This system has a services-oriented architecture (SOA) and is oil and gas business-oriented. It can be plugged to any kind of IT environment that already exists in the client’s company.

ROV or diver-dedicated range of readers

Enertag’s ITS has ROV or diver-dedicated readers to access the tag’s information. The readers produce an electromagnetic field, which is detected by the antenna of the tag and charges its energy storage mechanism. As a result, the microchip contained in the tag is activated and can transmit information and receive commands from the reader through its antenna. This process is repeated for as long as the transponder and reader have a certain proximity to one another.

Surface master station (SMS)

Energet’s ITS surface master station (SMS) feature encodes the tags prior to their installation.

Patented RFID technology and electronic mapping

The Enertag ITS incorporates the first patented RFID technology able to read and write passive tags underwater. ITS is the only solution that enables electronic mapping of subsea networks and rapid, errorless identification of subsea pipelines / assets for inspection, repair, maintenance and commissioning purposes.

Technological innovations

Enertag was founded in 2004 by three former executives from a pioneering RFID company after four years of research and development. The creation of Enertag has led to significant technological innovations.

During 2007-2008, Enertag moved from prototype stages to the industrialization of its first range of products. As well as this, the company entered into a partnership with ATOS Origin, a major European IT player, in the areas of software integration, installation, support and maintenance. Enertag’s successful year has been highlighted with the creation and location of its US subsidiary in Houston.