Google Street View Tours Offshore Platform

Google has launched a world-first Google Street View tour of an offshore platform.

The tour features Cygnus, the largest single producing gas field in the North Sea commissioned by operator Neptune Energy and its partner Spirit Energy.

It is the first time that Google Street View has ventured to an offshore oil and gas platform and it allows users to tour Cygnus, click on explanatory notes and watch some of the workforce talk about their jobs and life on a producing North Sea gas installation. Visitors have the opportunity to experience areas including the helipad, wellhead, control room and accommodation, fitness, leisure and restaurant spaces. Notes provide detailed information on the structure, its role in the U.K. economy and explanations about life and work offshore.

Cygnus consists of two installations, Alpha and Bravo. Alpha has three platforms and Street View even allows users to brave the elements by walking across the bridges linking the platforms in the middle of the North Sea.

Based in the southern North Sea, approximately 150 kilometers (93 miles) off the U.K. coast, the Cygnus field has been producing gas since December 2016. It contributes up to eight percent of U.K. gas production, enough gas to heat the equivalent of 1.5 million U.K. homes.

The Cygnus field is the biggest discovery in the southern North Sea for 30 years. It exports gas via a new 55-kilometer (34-mile) connection to an existing pipeline, which ends at the Bacton terminal.

The Cygnus Street View can be toured here.