Italian offshore contractor Saipem has offered a glimpse of its remote operated vehicle (ROV)/ autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) hybrid HyDrone.
The technology, developed by Saipem's Sonsub business, has been developed to be part of a permanent subsea infrastructure for life of field management services.
Sonsub says HyDrone represents a transition between the old, reactive, IMR approach to a new, preventive, autonomous solution to daily integrity issues.
HyDrone is a modular, subsea resident intervention platform, directly integrated within the subsea field and capable to work subsea for long time without surface vessel support.
The design is an evolution of work class ROVs, designed to allow reliable remote interventions on complex or inaccessible subsea infrastructures, also integrating AUV functionalities and additional innovative features.
Saipem says three factors are driving this type of life of field technology: the need to support offshore fields where the challenging environmental conditions (e.g. under the ice) or the level of novelty of involved subsea equipment (e.g. subsea processing) lead to an increased operational complexity; the need to efficiently manage operational risks minimizing system downtime and environmental impact; the need to substantially reduce costs of inspection, maintenance and repair campaigns conventionally carried out with work Class ROVs operated by dedicated support vessels.
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