Subsea7 reports a major advance in its remote piloting technology by fully operating a workclass ROV from Scotland to carry out operations 9,400km away off the coast of Brazil.
Developed by Subsea7, it can perform key inspection repair and maintenance (IRM) tasks "precisely and safely" under remote control with the potential to increase operational flexibility.
“This was a major milestone for Subsea7,” said Alan Gray, ROV and Autonomy Manager. “The maturity of our remote piloting systems has been demonstrated here and shows how new technologies alongside new ways of working, can lead to more sustainable operations. Subsea7 has deployed remote piloting systems on ROVs in the North Sea region, but this demonstration was our first remote piloting operation conducted for Brazil.”
The operations phase, which included pipeline inspection and light intervention tasks, was part of an ongoing contract to provide IRM services for Petrobras. At the time of the remote operations, Petrobras stated: “This project is an example of our ongoing collaboration with Subsea7, with the successful remote piloting trials delivering a high quality of operations across a variety of IRM activities.”
The project involved a remote piloting upgrade of the workclass ROV system on board an ROV support vessel. Real-time remote control was achieved via a secure, high-speed, communications link to Subsea7’s Aberdeen Onshore Control Center. Subsea7 also has two onshore control centers in Stavanger, Norway.