Gene Kliewer • Houston
ROV Roundup
Schilling Robotics LLC has launched its HD ROV. The 125 shp vehicle is completing sea trials and two of the systems are on order for delivery this year, says Schilling.
Featuring a smaller deck footprint, the work-class ROV is designed for inspection, maintenance, and repair (IMR) duty as well as drilling support and medium-duty construction. The unit features a power management system, remote diagnostics, and advanced automatic piloting. Matched with Schilling’s electric TMS system, the HD is capable of work in 425 m (1,394 ft).
Perry Slingsby Systems, SeeByte, and BlueViewTechnologies have demonstrated a package with SeeTrack CoPilot and Triton XLX ROV with a BlueView P900 sonar.
During the demonstration run, the ROV followed waypoints in Perry Slingsby System’s water tank in Florida using the SeeTrack CoPilot. The ROV traveled to each waypoint in order and the operator was able to start and stop the movement and send the ROV to new waypoints at will. Concurrently, the BlueView sonar data was overlaid on the pre-determined travel chart in real time which made it possible to contrast the sensor data with the chart data. In an additional task, the Triton XLX used the CoPilot to orbit and transit a vertical pipe that was being “watched” by the sonar.
Company News
Baker Hughes reports acquisition of Oilpump Services, an electrical submersible pump service company in western Siberia. Baker Hughes says Russia has 60% of all global ESP systems and that this acquisition adds three full-service bases and four remote field bases to Baker’s Noyabrsk operation.
The boards ofAcergy and Subsea 7 have agreed to combine the two companies, creating a global organization with:
- A market value of $5.4 billion and a 12,000-strong workforce
- A full range of subsea services including a diversified fleet and extensive fabrication and onshore facilities
- An order backlog of $5.3 billion.
The new entity – to be named Subsea 7 – will be headed by Subsea 7’s current chairman, Kristian Siem. Others in the executive management team will include Jean Cahuzac as CEO, and John Evans as COO.
Assuming regulatory and shareholder approvals, the merger could be completed towards the end of this year or early in 2011.
Both companies say that by combining resources, they will be better placed to respond to the growing size and technical complexity of subsea projects, in remote and increasingly harsh environments.
The merger aims to create a global leader in seabed-to-surface engineering and construction; to provide engineering, procurement, installation, and commissioning services for Subsea Umbilical, Riser, and Flowline (SURF) projects; and to conduct conventional field development and life-of-field services (including inspection, repair and maintenance, survey, and decommissioning).
Equipment & Engineering
Woodside Energy Ltd. has extended its rigless intervention services contract with TSmarine for another year. Work done under this contract has included rigless well intervention, well conductor piling, tree and flow base installation, flowline and jumper installation and repair, plus other IMR related items.
FMC Technologies Inc. has agreed with Gazprom Dobycha Shelf LLC to manufacture and supply $190 million of subsea production equipment to support the Kirinskoye field.
Kirinskoye is a subsea-to-beach gas and condensate field off Russia’s Pacific coast in water depths of 300 ft (90 m) within the Kirinsky block of the Sakhalin III project, 17 mi (28 km) offshore Sakhalin Island.
FMC’s scope includes the manufacture of subsea production trees, a manifold, wellheads, multiphase meters, choke modules, and subsea control modules. The equipment will be manufactured and assembled at FMC’s facilities in Dunfermline, Scotland, and Kongsberg, Norway, and at FMC’s Multi Phase Meters AS (MPM) operation in Stavanger, Norway. Deliveries are scheduled to start 2Q 2011.
Through-ice wireless communication test succeeds
A test by WFS Technologies and Kongsberg Maritime Subsea successfully sent communications from seawater through covering ice, and into the air using radio frequency technology. WFS says the test results matched its theoretical predictions and it thinks it can succeed in transmitting up to 1 km (0.62 mi) above the ice.
The object is to be able to communicate more easily with an AUV and/or sensors at work under the ice. Such a system could allow a surface vessel, helicopter, or even unmanned aerial vehicle to locate the AUV under the ice and to communicate with it. This, in turn, could save costs in pipeline surveys, and subsea condition monitoring and intervention.
The project is a €1.8-million ($2.3-million), two-year project.
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