Tele-ultrasound machine wins $1m for saving lives on oil rigs

A Norwegian-developed tele-ultrasound solution that lets nurses on offshore oil rigs perform live scans under remote medical supervision has won the UAE'S $1 million Human Energy Health and Wellbeing Award at ADIPEC 2025.

- Haneen Dajani

The portable ultrasound devices are linked via secure telemedicine software, streaming live images to medical experts who guide the nurses through every movement of the probe.

The innovation, created by the University of Stavanger in collaboration with Equinor, is already being used at five North Sea installations Asta Hansteen, Heidrun, Oseberg, Johan Sverdrup and one additional site with 40 offshore nurses trained to conduct ultrasound examinations guided in real time by onshore radiologists.

Project lead Nina Hjertvikrem said the technology is helping medics make safer and faster decisions during emergencies. "It's been very common to evacuate people offshore when they have symptoms like chest pain, even if it later turns out to be nothing serious," she said.

"Now we can look inside the body immediately and decide whether we can manage the patient onsite or if they need to be flown to hospital." She said the scans have already changed how medical teams handle respiratory and cardiac cases.