Page 39: of Marine Technology Magazine (September 2019)

er system. The vessel has an 18-day sound velocity pro? ler and Applanix endurance with full communications POSMV OceanMaster for vehicle capability (including dual redundant heading, attitude, heave and velocity. satellite communications systems), The Miller pipeline survey was con-

HQTXLULHV#EOXHSULQWVXEVHDFRP cameras (including thermal imaging), ducted from just 2.5m water depth

VRXQGE\GHVLJQ and navigation lights. It’s able to com- to 40m depth over a 4.75km section municate real-time with XOCEAN’s of pipeline. In total four runs were onshore control room, where pilots are carried out. These comprised of two based 24/7, enabling remote, over-the- center lines acquiring multibeam data 0XOWLEHDP,PDJLQJ6RQDUV horizon control. from the R2Sonic system and two 6LQJOHDQG'XDO)UHTXHQF\WRN+]

It navigated using waypoints more wing lines acquiring pseudo side scan than 128 nautical miles offshore to the data using a Norbit iWBMSh system.

Machar ? eld and then transited to each Throughout, the operations were mon- seabed unit location to download the itored and controlled remotely from data – which was sent live to shore so XOCEAN’s base in Ireland. that both Sonardyne and BP could do The goal was to get point cloud data, an initial check on the data. To reach color coded bathymetry data, quality of the seabed units, permission to control, ? ve point ? les, pseudo side enter a 500m exclusion zone, due to scan sonar, event/anomaly listing and the presence of a light well interven- contours. Final data delivery was met tion vessel, was required and gained within four weeks of demobilization – showing another bene? t to using and the data was deemed suitable by these systems. Once all the data was the integrity engineers.

retrieved, the mission was deemed a “The data acquired from the USV success and the X0-450 returned safe- system was of very high quality and 0LFUR86%/7UDFNLQJ%HDFRQV ly back to Peterhead. demonstrated the ability of these sys- %LGLUHFWLRQDO$FRXVWLF'DWD0RGHPV “A key reason for us going down tems to undertake shallow water pipe- this route, for using a USV over- line inspections, moving the industry the-horizon, was to eliminate health, forward technically while realizing safety and environmental (HSE) risk,” ef? ciencies in carbon reduction and says Craig Allinson, Survey and Posi- HSE risk,” says Primeau.

tioning Lead for BP North Sea, also Thanks to the success of the Miller speaking at the event. “Unmanned op- survey, the revised dual head multi- erations with a small vessel enable us beam system is scheduled for deploy- to do that. They achieve a signi? cant ment in Azerbaijan for inspection of reduction in carbon emissions – com- shallow water pipelines (shoreline to pared with a manned vessel – and to- 25m water depth) in Q4 this year.

tal elimination of the need for humans That’s a story for another day. For offshore for this type of work. We also now, BP is making steps towards its get a signi? cant cost saving, compared marine autonomous inspection vi- with using a conventional vessel.” sion, while also reducing its carbon 3RUWDEOH6LGHVFDQ6RQDUV footprint and HSE risk. The goal is 7RZHG2(0+XOODQG3ROH0RXQWHG

USV Inspection Operations to modernize the business and make

With the XO-450 available in Peter- inspection operations more ef? cient, head, BP had another project in mind says Primeau. “The offshore industry – a shallow water survey of the Miller is on the cusp of great change as the pipeline at St Fergus. use of USVs increases and functional-

The Miller pipeline is a 30” export ities develop. It’s challenging the use pipeline that runs from St Fergus, near of manned vessels for routine inspec-

Peterhead, out to the Miller ? eld. For tions,” he says. “The USV is becom- the survey, the USV was recon? gured ing a standard tool for performing from its data harvesting setup. After an high resolution seabed surveys and it’s initial trial, the system was re? ned so also a gateway for developing comple- that it housed an R2Sonics Dual Head mentary underwater systems, such as multibeam system, Valeport SWiFT the integration of ROVs and AUVs.”

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