The possibility of subsea colonization of offshore oil and gas assets by underwater drones is closer than ever.
The technology to keep robotic assets subsea for extended periods of time exists, yet hurdles remain, such as the necessary infrastructure to support a subsea resident robot. Even as the business cases for using underwater resident robots sharpen into focus, it can be difficult to fully quantify the potential benefits and justify the required investment in infrastructure. Every subsea operation by a resident robot is a chance to move the industry toward a future where robots spend months at a time underwater, rather than being recovered and relaunched between every mission, as autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) typically are.
Part of the draw of having a robot stationed subsea is that it removes the need for a support vessel and dependency on good weather to execute missions, Giovanni Massari, head of Sonsub, Saipem’s subsea technology and robotics development and operational center, told JPT. Instead, he said, an underwater intervention drone (UID) can reside on the seabed and carry out periodic maintenance and light intervention operations as needed.
Such an underwater vehicle could contribute to digitalization of a field by collecting data during missions.
“One critical element in the operation of the subsea field is that typically, you don’t have enough information about what is happening subsea. The number of sensors that are physically embedded on the subsea facility is quite limited, and there is a clear benefit to having a subsea resident vehicle that can be launched, ideally on a daily basis or a weekly basis, that can inspect specific assets early” to identify potential integrity risks and enable preventive maintenance, he said.
And its constant presence would make it possible to carry out immediate interventions or troubleshoot problems, Massari and his coauthors wrote in OTC 35770.
Jan Siesjö, Saab’s product manager for Sabertooth, told JPT that the economics of subsea inspections have shifted.
