Drones redefining offshore integrity as remote inspections rise
Key Highlights
- Offshore operators are shifting from fixed schedules to risk-based, condition-driven inspection models supported by remote drone and robotic technologies.
- The availability of high-resolution, continuous inspection data enhances integrity management, allowing for more accurate life extension assessments and optimized maintenance planning.
- Remote inspection programs are transforming risk management by focusing on data reliability, sensor integrity and analytical uncertainty, especially for floating and subsea assets.
- Regulatory bodies are developing guidelines for remote inspection methods, with increasing acceptance and standardization to support industry innovation and safety compliance.
High-frequency, remote inspection data is revolutionizing offshore asset management by enabling predictive maintenance, extending asset life and optimizing inspection schedules, thus supporting more informed and timely decision-making across the asset life cycle.
Offshore recently spoke with Steven Verver, founder and CTO of Terra Inspectioneering, about the future of offshore inspection, remote technologies, data-driven integrity and evolving strategies.
Terra Inspectioneering conducts class-certified drone and robotic inspections for offshore structures, using remote ultrasonic testing (UT) and visual technologies to reduce or eliminate confined-space entry. The company is approved by ABS and other major classification societies for remote inspection techniques.
Offshore: How are offshore inspection strategies evolving as energy operators seek to balance asset integrity, workforce safety and cost discipline in increasingly remote operating environments?
Verver: The offshore inspection landscape is undergoing a fundamental transformation driven by the convergence of economic pressures, safety imperatives and technological capability. Operators are increasingly moving away from rigid, calendar-based inspection regimes toward risk-based and condition-based models that prioritize data over convention. This shift is particularly pronounced in deepwater developments and frontier basins where the cost of deploying inspection personnel can represent a disproportionate share of operational expenditure.
The COVID-19 pandemic served as an inflection point, accelerating the adoption of remote monitoring solutions that had previously been viewed as supplementary rather than primary inspection methodologies.
The tension between cost discipline and safety compliance has catalyzed a more nuanced approach to inspection planning. Rather than viewing these objectives as competing priorities, leading operators are integrating them through advanced drone-based inspection methodologies.
A revolution has taken place specifically in storage tank inspections, where the breakthrough of drone technology now enables class-certified inspections for both ultrasonic testing (UT) and close visual inspections (CVI). These certified drone inspections eliminate the need for human entry into confined spaces while delivering data quality equivalent to traditional methods.
Drone-based inspections yield measurable reductions in both inspection-related expenditures and exposure hours for personnel working at height or in confined spaces. The challenge lies in developing robust qualification frameworks that demonstrate equivalence between traditional visual inspections and remote inspection approaches to satisfy class society and regulatory requirements.
Offshore: What operational or organizational barriers most commonly affect the successful adoption of remote inspection approaches offshore?
Verver: The barriers to remote inspection adoption extend well beyond technological capability and frequently reside in organizational culture, competency frameworks and legacy contractual structures.
A persistent challenge is the misalignment between operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT) departments, which have historically operated with distinct mandates, governance structures and risk appetites. The successful deployment of remote inspection systems requires seamless integration between sensor networks, data transmission infrastructure and analytical platforms—necessitating collaboration that many organizations are structurally ill-equipped to facilitate.
This friction is compounded by cybersecurity concerns, as connected inspection devices introduce potential attack vectors that must be managed without compromising real-time data availability.
Competency represents another significant barrier, though not in the manner commonly assumed. The shortage is not merely of technicians capable of operating drones or interpreting sensor data, but of professionals who possess integrated understanding of structural engineering, data science and offshore operations.
Classification societies and industry bodies have begun addressing this gap through the development of specialized certification programs, but the pipeline of qualified personnel remains insufficient relative to demand.
Additionally, contractual frameworks between operators, asset owners and inspection service providers often contain clauses that implicitly favor conventional inspection methodologies, creating financial disincentives for innovation. Standardization of data formats and inspection protocols across the industry would accelerate adoption considerably, yet competitive dynamics and proprietary interests have slowed progress toward the interoperability that remote inspection ecosystems require.
Offshore: How are aerial inspection methods, including the use of remotely piloted or autonomous drones, influencing planning, data quality and risk management for offshore inspection campaigns, particularly in hard‑to‑access or hazardous areas?
Verver: Aerial inspection technologies have fundamentally altered the risk calculus for accessing hazardous or geographically challenging offshore structures. The ability to deploy unmanned aerial systems (UAS) for visual inspection of flare booms, under-deck areas, offshore wind turbine blades, storage tanks and ballast tanks on FPSOs has eliminated the need for personnel to work at height or enter confined spaces in many scenarios—a reduction in exposure that translates directly to measurable safety improvements.
Beyond risk mitigation, drones enable inspection frequencies that would be economically unfeasible using traditional methods. Several floating production operators now conduct monthly drone surveys of hull and topside structures, generating longitudinal datasets that reveal deterioration patterns invisible in sporadic manual inspections. This temporal density of data supports more precise corrosion modeling and enables intervention before defects progress to criticality.
The impact on data quality is nuanced and warrants careful consideration. High-resolution cameras and advanced sensors mounted on modern UAS can capture imagery superior to that obtained during human visual inspections, particularly in terms of consistency and repeatability. Photogrammetric techniques and LIDAR data enable the creation of detailed 3D models that serve as digital twins for comparative analysis across inspection cycles. However, the quality of drone-acquired data is contingent upon environmental conditions, operator proficiency and the specific sensor payload employed.
Offshore environments present unique challenges including salt spray, magnetic interference from steel structures, and stringent safety requirements for battery-powered equipment in hazardous zones.
Regulatory frameworks for autonomous operations remain under development in most jurisdictions, meaning that current deployments typically require line-of-sight supervision that limits operational efficiency. As beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) regulations mature and artificial intelligence enables automated defect recognition, the integration of aerial methods into standard inspection protocols will likely deepen.
Offshore: From an integrity management perspective, how has the availability of higher‑frequency inspection data changed decision-making over the life of offshore assets?
Case study: FPSO cargo oil tank inspection
During July to August 2024, Terra Inspectioneering conducted an ABS class-certified inspection of the 3S cargo oil tank (COT) aboard an FPSO operating in the Santos Basin offshore Brazil.
Traditionally, this work would have required confined‑space entry, extensive scaffolding and rope access, tank shutdowns, and the presence of 15 to 20 personnel offshore. Instead, the client deployed the Terra UT Drone Gen3, an ultrasonic thickness measurement drone equipped with an integrated cleaning brush. It was operated by Terra Drone Brazil’s class‑certified inspection team. The scope included deck transverses on frames 81, 85 and 87, inner shell sections, the longitudinal bulkhead, upper deck structures, and more than 90 video recordings documenting UT locations.
The use of the drone enabled major operational efficiencies: personnel requirements were reduced to just three workers, inspection duration was cut from 12-14 days to six to seven, confined‑space entry and scaffolding were completely eliminated, and tank downtime was minimized.
Technically, the drone achieved 100% coverage of requested measurement points, with no cracks, fractures, deformation or anomalies observed. All thickness measurements met regulatory limits, tank condition was assessed as "good" within IACS Recommendation 87, and ABS Class certification was achieved through Terra Drone Brazil’s approved supplier status.
The inspection delivered improved safety performance—zero work at height, zero confined‑space entry and zero exposure to hazardous atmospheres—while maintaining full ABS compliance. The Terra UT Drone completed multiple flights per day to reach all required locations, demonstrating its capability to safely access complex structures while providing high‑quality 4K visual records and repeatable UT data.
For the client, the project proved that class‑certified drone inspections can fully replace traditional methods, significantly reduce costs and downtime, enhance data quality and scale effectively across FPSO cargo tanks, ballast tanks and other confined environments.
Metric |
Traditional Method |
Drone Inspection |
Improvement |
Personnel on Board |
15-20 workers |
3 workers |
80% reduction |
Inspection Duration |
12-14 days |
6-7 days |
50% faster |
Confined Space Entry |
Required |
Eliminated |
100% reduction |
Scaffolding Required |
Extensive |
None |
Complete elimination |
Tank Shutdown |
Extended |
Minimal |
Significant reduction |
Verver: The transition from episodic to continuous or high-frequency inspection data represents a paradigm shift in integrity management philosophy.
Traditional inspection regimes provided snapshots of asset condition at discrete intervals, often years apart, requiring conservative assumptions about deterioration rates and necessitating substantial safety margins in structural assessments.
The availability of high-frequency data streams—whether from permanently installed sensors, periodic drone surveys or subsea inspection campaigns—enables a transition toward probabilistic integrity models that reflect actual rather than assumed degradation patterns. This evolution supports more precise remaining useful life calculations and can defer or eliminate unnecessary interventions, yielding both economic and operational benefits.
The implications for decision-making extend across the asset life cycle. During the design and construction phases, high-frequency monitoring of similar assets in comparable service provides empirical validation of design assumptions and informs material selection. During operations, continuous data enables dynamic reassessment of inspection intervals based on observed performance rather than fixed schedules. Perhaps most significantly, as assets approach their original design life, rich historical datasets provide the evidentiary foundation for life-extension assessments.
Operators in mature basins are increasingly leveraging decades of inspection records, supplemented by modern high-resolution surveys, to demonstrate structural fitness-for-service beyond original design assumptions. This data-driven approach to life extension requires sophisticated analytical capabilities and robust quality assurance processes to ensure that data integrity supports regulatory submissions. The organizations that have invested in digital infrastructure and data governance are now realizing competitive advantages in their ability to make confident, defensible decisions regarding asset longevity.
Offshore: How do remote inspection programs influence the way offshore energy operators assess and manage inspection risk across fixed platforms, floating assets and subsea infrastructure?
Verver: Remote inspection programs have prompted a reconceptualization of inspection risk that extends beyond the traditional focus on defect detection to encompass data reliability, transmission integrity and analytical uncertainty.
For fixed platforms, the primary impact has been a shift toward risk-based inspection (RBI) methodologies that leverage computational models informed by continuous monitoring data. Rather than inspecting all structural members on a fixed schedule, operators can focus physical inspections on areas where monitoring indicates elevated stress, corrosion or fatigue accumulation. This targeted approach reduces overall inspection burden while potentially improving detection probability for critical defects. However, it introduces new categories of risk related to sensor failure, data gaps and model validation that must be explicitly managed within integrity management systems.
For floating assets, including FPSOs, FLNGs and semisubmersibles, remote inspection has proven particularly valuable for hull monitoring and cargo tank assessment. The internal compartments of floating production vessels present some of the most hazardous inspection environments in the offshore industry, with risks including confined space entry, explosive atmospheres and limited egress.
Remote UT techniques, including permanently installed sensor arrays and robotic crawler systems, enable thickness monitoring without human entry, fundamentally altering the risk profile of tank inspection programs.
Subsea infrastructure presents distinct challenges due to the high cost and logistical complexity of physical intervention. Remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) have long been standard for subsea inspection, but the integration of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and seabed-installed monitoring systems is extending the envelope of what can be assessed without vessel-based intervention.
The cumulative effect is a risk landscape in which human exposure is concentrated on value-adding activities—maintenance, repair and complex assessment—while routine monitoring is delegated to automated systems.
Offshore: To what extent are regulatory expectations and class requirements shaping offshore inspection strategies, particularly as digital and remote methods become more prevalent?
Verver: Regulatory and classification frameworks exert substantial influence on inspection strategy evolution, functioning simultaneously as enablers and constraints on innovation. Classification societies have made significant strides in developing guidelines for remote inspection techniques, with major societies now publishing specific requirements for drone-based surveys, remote NDT [non-destructive testing] methods and continuous monitoring systems.
The International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) has pursued harmonization efforts through unified requirements, though implementation varies across member societies and geographical regions. This regulatory maturation provides the certainty required for operators to invest in remote inspection capabilities with confidence that findings will be accepted for class renewal and statutory certification purposes.
Nevertheless, gaps persist between technological capability and regulatory acceptance. Many regulatory frameworks retain implicit assumptions about inspection methodologies rooted in decades-old practices—requirements for 'visual inspection' that do not explicitly address remote visual capabilities, or thickness measurement specifications written for manual UT rather than automated or remotely deployed systems. The qualification of remote inspection methods often requires extensive comparative validation against traditional approaches, creating a burden of proof that slows adoption.
Flag states and coastal regulators are increasingly engaged with these questions as they balance the safety benefits of reduced personnel exposure against the need to ensure that remote methods achieve equivalent or superior defect detection probability. The trajectory is toward greater formalization of remote inspection within regulatory frameworks, but the pace of this integration varies considerably across jurisdictions. Operators with assets in multiple regulatory environments face the complexity of navigating inconsistent requirements, which can inhibit the realization of efficiency gains that remote methods theoretically enable.
Offshore: As offshore infrastructure ages in mature basins such as the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea, how should inspection and monitoring strategies adapt to support life‑extension decisions?
Verver: The aging infrastructure in mature offshore basins presents a distinct set of integrity management challenges that demand evolved inspection and monitoring strategies. Assets originally designed for 20- to 25-year service lives are now routinely operating beyond 30 years, with many operators pursuing extensions toward 40 years or more. This longevity is economically motivated—mature fields often retain substantial recoverable reserves, and new facility construction faces prohibitive costs and regulatory hurdles—but it requires inspection strategies capable of demonstrating continued fitness-for-service as deterioration mechanisms progress and material properties evolve.
The foundation of effective life-extension inspection is comprehensive baseline characterization, often involving advanced non-destructive testing techniques that exceed the scope of routine surveys.
As assets age, inspection strategies must transition from compliance-oriented to predictive and prescriptive models. The deterioration mechanisms dominant in later life (e.g., fatigue crack growth in critical joints, coating breakdown and corrosion under insulation, internal corrosion in process systems) require targeted monitoring approaches.
For steel structures, this often means implementation of permanent strain monitoring at high-stress locations to validate fatigue life predictions and detect crack initiation.
For process equipment and piping, advanced inspection techniques, including guided wave ultrasonics and pulsed eddy current testing, enable screening of extensive areas to identify locations requiring detailed assessment. The integration of inspection data with process history—pressure cycling, temperature excursions, chemical treatment records—enables holistic assessment of damage accumulation.
Ultimately, life-extension decisions require confidence intervals that can only be provided by robust, longitudinal datasets. Operators that have maintained consistent inspection records and invested in digital data management are better positioned to pursue extensions than those with fragmented or incomplete historical data.
Offshore: Looking ahead, what trends do you expect will most influence how remote inspections and operations are planned and executed across global offshore energy markets over the next decade?
Verver: Several converging trends will shape the remote inspection landscape over the coming decade, with the energy transition serving as a primary driver of both opportunity and disruption.
The expansion of offshore wind, particularly floating wind installations in deeper waters, will create demand for inspection capabilities optimized for turbine structures and subsea cable systems. The scale of offshore wind developments—hundreds or thousands of individual units per field—makes manual inspection economically unsustainable and will accelerate adoption of autonomous systems capable of operating without continuous human supervision.
Simultaneously, the decarbonization of offshore oil and gas operations will create imperatives for inspection methods that minimize vessel and helicopter utilization, favoring resident or locally deployed autonomous systems over conventional support vessel-based operations.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning will increasingly permeate inspection workflows, evolving from current applications in defect detection toward predictive integrity modeling and automated maintenance planning. The industry will likely see emergence of 'inspection-as-a-service' models in which specialized providers maintain continuous monitoring infrastructure and deliver integrity insights rather than raw data, fundamentally altering commercial relationships between operators and service companies.
Standardization and interoperability will advance as the economic penalties of proprietary data formats become more apparent, potentially catalyzed by regulatory mandates for digital submission of inspection findings.
Finally, the integration of inspection data with broader digital twin ecosystems will enable increasingly sophisticated simulation of asset performance under various scenarios, supporting optimization of inspection timing, maintenance scheduling and ultimately decommissioning planning.
The organizations that thrive in this evolving landscape will be those that invest not merely in inspection technology, but in the data architecture, analytical capabilities and organizational competencies required to extract value from the abundant information that remote inspection methods provide.
Furthermore, drones and robots are rapidly evolving to operate in increasingly challenging conditions and also non-Chinese drones. For example, in January 2025, Terra Drone launched a confined space drone, Terra Xross1, from Japan that is capable of both LIDAR scanning and visual odometry sensor. This drone is applied for oil and gas inspection, mining excavation survey and reconnaissance. We are also working on drones that can withstand extreme temperatures and above upper explosive limit environments. These technological advances will further expand the scope of remote inspection capabilities in the coming decade.
About the Author
Ariana Hurtado
Editor-in-Chief
With more than a decade of copy editing, project management and journalism experience, Ariana Hurtado is a seasoned managing editor born and raised in the energy capital of the world—Houston, Texas. She currently serves as editor-in-chief of Offshore, overseeing the editorial team, its content and the brand's growth from a digital perspective.
Utilizing her editorial expertise, she manages digital media for the Offshore team. She also helps create and oversee new special industry reports and revolutionizes existing supplements, while also contributing content to Offshore's magazine, newsletters and website as a copy editor and writer.
Prior to her current role, she served as Offshore's editor and director of special reports from April 2022 to December 2024. Before joining Offshore, she served as senior managing editor of publications with Hart Energy. Prior to her nearly nine years with Hart, she worked on the copy desk as a news editor at the Houston Chronicle.
She graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Houston.