General Session—Tuesday, November 9th

 

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

 

Steven Koppits

Randall Abadie

Track 1—Tuesday, November 9th

INTEGRITY MANAGMENT

1:30 PM
Speaker: John D. Green
Company: Stat Marine, LLC
Abstract Title: Comprehensive Approach to Subsea Integrity Management

2:00 PM
Speaker: Perry Wright
Company: Ocean Specialists, Inc.
Abstract Title: Subsea Inspection Repair and Maintenance Benefit from Free Broadband Communication

2:30 PM
Speaker: Brian Edwards
Company: VisualSoft USA
Abstract Title: Using 3D Visualization for Life of Field Asset Integrity Management

3:00 PM BREAK

DIVING—IRM & VESSELS

4:00 PM
Speaker: Michael Johnson
Company: Oceaneering International, Inc.
Abstract Title: Dive Service Vessels (DSVs) for the 21st Century

4:30 PM
Speaker: Richard Campbell
Company: Neptune
Abstract Title: The NEPSYS Underwater Dry Weld System

5:00 PM
Speaker: James R. McNab
Company: Oceaneering International, Inc.
Abstract Title: Advanced NDT of Subsea Riser Welds

Track 1—Wednesday, November 10th

 

UNDERWATER VEHICLES FOR SURVEY, INSPECTION, REPAIR AND MAINTAINANCE

 

8:30 AM
Speaker: Dave Medeiros
Company: Oceaneering International, Inc.
Abstract Title: Future Shock, Today’s Technology and IRM Interventions

9:00 AM
Speaker: Jason Stanley
Company: Schilling Robotics
Abstract Title: ROV Design Challenges for Today’s Deepwater IMR Market

9:30 AM
Speaker: Ian Griffiths
Company: SMD Americas/Norm Robertson
Abstract Title: Subsea Survey, Intervention and Inspection – A New ROV Systems Approach To Day-Co

10:00 PM BREAK

11:00 AM
Speaker: Andrew McMurtrie
Company: NCS Survey
Abstract Title: Low logistics AUVs for Pipeline Inspection & Hydrographic Surveys

11:30 AM
Speaker: Chris Hancock
Company: Kongsberg Underwater Technology, Inc.
Abstract Title: HUGIN 1000 AUV with Interferometric SAS for Pipeline Inspection

12:00 PM LUNCH

1:30 PM
Speaker: Bert Johansson
Company: Saab Underwater Systems AB
Abstract Title: Seaeye Sabertooth Hybrid AUV/ROV for IMR

2:00 PM
Speaker: Dan McLeod
Company: Lockheed Martin MS2
Abstract Title: Technology Advances Bring Autonomous Vehicles Operations into the Oil Field

2:30 PM
Speaker: Jonathan Epstein
Company: Hawkes Remotes, Inc.
Abstract Title: Extending Range and Lowering Cost for Offshore IRM Missions through New ROV Designs

3:00 PM BREAK

UNDERWATER VEHICLES — CONTROL, MAVIGATION, POSITIONING AND MAPPING

4:00 PM
Speaker: Dr. Ioseba Tena
Company: SeeByte Ltd.
Abstract Title: Latest advances on smart technology for Remotely Operated Vehicles improve operations

4:30 PM
Speaker: Edward Moller
Company: Sonardyne International
Abstract Title: 6G® - New Technology for Ultra Deepwater Vehicle Positioning

5:00 PM
Speaker: Lars Dall
Company: EIVA A/S Denmark
Abstract Title: Pipeline Inspection Data in a 3D Environment

Track 1—Thursday, November 11th

 

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

 

8:30 AM
Speaker: Bengt Sahlberg
Company: CEO LYYN AB
Abstract Title: Pushing the Limits of Underwater Video

9:00 AM
Speaker: Andy Wilby
Company: Applied Signal Technology, Inc.
Abstract Title: PROSAS Surveyor: Out of the Lab and into the Oil Field

9:30 AM
Speaker: Daniel Esser
Company: CONTROS Systems & Solutions GmbH
Abstract Title: Leak Detection and Monitoring of Subsea Structures

10:00 PM BREAK

11:00 AM
Speaker: Jim Britton
Company: Deepwater Corrosion Services Inc.
Abstract Title: Recent Advances in Offshore Pipeline Cathodic Protection Life Extension & Performance Monitoring

11:30 AM
Speaker: Jonathan Martin
Company: Sonardyne International
Abstract Title: Sonardyne Lodestar - Flexible Inertial Solutions for all Survey Operations

12:00 PM CONFERENCE ENDS

Steven Koppits

Douglas-Westwood has authored the recent report titled The World Offshore Operations & Maintenance Report 2010-2014. The challenge of meeting global energy demand is pushing Oil & Gas companies to the limits of technology by developing reserves in increasingly deeper water and under higher pressure and temperature conditions than ever before. However, every offshore project adds to the already massive infrastructure of subsea oil & gas related equipment. Steven Koppits examines the impact of prospective offshore oil & gas activity on the subsea inspection, repair and maintenance (IRM) market considering key market drivers and indicators and their effect on this rapidly growing portion of he offshore oil & gas business.

Steven Kopits heads the New York office of Douglas-Westwood, providing market research, strategy support and commercial due diligence to the offshore the oil and gas services sector, investment banks, and private equity funds.  Steven’s background is as an investment banker and management consultant.  Prior to joining Douglas-Westwood, Steven led teams raising capital for the shipping and offshore oil and gas sector as an investment banker in New York; and earlier provided strategic management consulting services to a range of industries as a Director for Financial Advisory Services at Deloitte & Touche.  He presents frequently on a range of oil and gas topics, and writes regularly on energy markets in a variety of publications, including Offshore Magazine, Petroleum Review, Foreign Policy and Renewable Energy World.

Randall Abadie

Driving Success In Offshore Oil and Gas Operations Through The Use of Underwater Service Contractors
The use of underwater service contractors is a must for offshore oil and gas operations. The presentation will discuss how the use of these services help drive success in offshore oil and gas operations, both in shallow water and deepwater. The presentation will highlight several successful projects where underwater services played a key role, discuss HSE issues facing the underwater industry and outline how continuous technology advancement will be a key component for the success of the offshore oil and gas industry going forward in a new operating environment.

Randall Abadie is employed by Shell Exploration and Production Company in New Orleans, Louisiana where he serves as the Offshore Structures Technical Authority, Marine Technical Authority, and Diving Technical Authority for Shell Upstream Americas. He is responsible for all diving activities for Shell Upstream in the Americas, all underwater inspections for Shell in the Gulf of Mexico and is the focal point for decommissioning of offshore structures and facilities for Shell in the Gulf of Mexico. Prior to joining Shell he spent a number of years working for a large engineering design firm in New Orleans, Louisiana where he designed and managed numerous large-scale oil and gas and industrial projects around the world. Randall is a graduate of Louisiana State University and is a registered professional engineer in the states of Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, and Mississippi. He is a charter member of the Structural Institute and in 1999 was named a Fellow in the American Society of Civil Engineers. He has served on a number of industry committees and groups, and is Shell’s representative on the Gulf of Mexico Decommissioning Operators Group.

John D. Green

Stat Marine has been involved in subsea integrity management activities in West Africa since the startup of the Girasol field in December 2001. During this time Stat Marine has developed a comprehensive approach to Subsea IM. Through projects with Total, ExxonMobil and BP over the past 10 years, a comprehensive strategy for implementing a successful Integrity Management program has evolved. Several OTC Papers in 2008 and 2009 have shed light on the evolving role of Integrity Management in the inspection, maintenance and repair of subsea facilities. Considerable work including new and revised regulations and recommended practice has been done to define the IM requirements for floating production facilities and their associated mooring systems and riser systems. However the practice of integrity management of static subsea equipment has not progressed as rapidly. With the complexity of installed subsea systems increasing, the age of existing subsea systems increasing, and the value of the production from these subsea systems becoming a larger and larger component of Operators profits, it is only natural that these systems should attract as much attention as is currently
given to floating systems. The Integrity Management process for subsea systems requires a different perspective in its planning, execution, and reporting and monitoring. This is mainly due to the costly nature of the process itself. The periodic inspection of deepwater subsea systems can cost several million dollars to implement. For this reason, greater emphasis must be placed on preparations for the inspection and the work required after the inspection to minimize offshore time and therefore overall costs.

The Integrity Management process is generally recognized to consist of three main elements.
1. Planning
2. Execution
3. Reporting and Monitoring

A successful and cost effective Integrity Management Program must implement each of these elements successfully to reach the goal of improved safety, fewer shutdowns, reduced operating costs, and longer operating life.

This paper/presentation will discuss the key components that make up each of these elements and how the individual elements are integrated to meet Operators expectations.

Perry Wright

With most operators now using some form of Integrity Management System, Inspection, Repair and Maintenance (IRM) activities, including well interventions and workovers have become significantly more structured with regards to their timing and the number of different activities that may be included in a scheduled campaign, resulting in vessels and drill rigs being on station for extended periods.

At the same time there has been a huge growth in the capability and the complexity of IRM services that are now offered to the Subsea Community. This growth has brought with it a large increase in communications overhead. To make full use of these services, the detailed data, including video, must be made available to the operations team. As it is not typically cost effective or practical to keep all the necessary skilled personnel on the vessel, where they are not available to support multiple concurrent operations, this means that high bandwidth communication using expensive satellite technology, has been the preferred option to support data transfer and communications, including video conferencing.

No longer is satellite the only game in town. A new solution has become available within the oil & gas industry with the growth in the number of fields that have high bandwidth communication available through a regional subsea fiber-optic communications cable system. These fields and many not yet connected to a regional backbone, also have optical fiber as the communications medium for their in-field hardware. Subsea access to these in-field systems is available through ROV operable wet-mate fiber optic connectors.

A Portable Dynamic Riser (PDR) provides a low cost re-useable method of connection a Drill Rig or DP Vessel into a fields’ subsea fiber infrastructure through any available spare wet-mate connector.

In this paper, OSI will discuss the advantages and contracting strategies that direct connection to a “free”, high bandwidth, low latency communication system brings to the SS/IRM community, and describes the PDR system that can make the connection between the vessel and the available subsea fiber connector.

Brian Edwards

To address the need for higher resolution environmental data within a reasonable cost, YSI, Inc has developed the first autonomous underwater vehicle specifically designed for water quality and bathymetry mapping. The EcoMapper AUV is a person-deployable vehicle featuring intuitive mission planning software, 10 hour run times with remote RF communication, and the complete on-board water quality sensor suite that samples at a frequency of 1Hz. The result is detailed maps of water quality parameters and bathymetry at a highly resolved spatial scale that does not require a boat and only one technician’s time. The results from two mapping missions conducted in coastal areas of Florida and California will be presented.

Michael Johnson

Dive Support Vessels (DSVs) are evolving as quickly as the technologies of the oil and gas industry they were designed to serve. Customer requirements for increased safety and more effective job completion have changed Oceaneering’s approach to the types of vessels the company offers for all scopes of diving work. Historically, dive vessels were acquired from other marine fields as aging supply boats, survey and/or military vessels. The decks of these converted vessels would then be packed with dive and support gear. Little or no room for project specific materials would be available. These vessels lacked the equipment and accommodation to perform the tasks they were intended to safely complete, with some serving long lives before their use as dive vessels. New industry regulations and requirements have forced companies to make difficult decisions to continue with the status quo or INVEST in updating their fleets to reflect their commitment to safety and client requirements. Oceaneering has a strong internal Continuous Improvement program and has made a commitment to add to our DSV Fleet with a new-build Ocean Project replacement and the introduction of the Ocean Patriot, a dedicated DP-2 saturation dive service vessel. The new-build Ocean Project is a 200’ X 46’ purpose built 4-point, saturation capable DSV that will replace the converted DSV Ocean Project built in 1972. The Ocean Patriot, formerly the DMT Sapphire built in 2002, has an Oceaneering 1000 fsw ABS compliant saturation dive system permanently installed.

Richard Campbell

Traditional underwater welding techniques for high-strength steels include wet welding, in which only a Class B weld can be achieved, or with a hyperbaric habit or cofferdam installed to obtain a dry environment in order to perform the weld repair. Neptune recognized the need for a more time-efficient and cost-effective solution while maintaining, and in most cases, improving structural weld integrity.

NepSys is a unique and class approved underwater dry welding system. This technology produces an underwater, permanent dry weld to industry quality standards. This revolutionary system is extremely flexible and can be used for new construction or applied to a number of underwater welding maintenance and repair tasks. To date, NepSys has achieved successful qualifications to -70 metres (-231 feet of sea water) and has received class society approval by ABS, DNV & Lloyd’s Register.

James R. McNab

By James R. McNab, MSc, MInst NDT Global Technology Manager Oceaneering International Inspection and Andre' Olivier, Regional Manager, Oceaneering Inspection- Americas Region

This paper describes a project involving several closely integrated services to complete Advanced Ultrasonic Examination and Computed Radiography of X-Prime fatigue sensitive welds on two subsea production risers on a Gulf of Mexico Spar. The approach involved expertise from diving, vessel management, Non-destructive testing and close coordination with platform and vessel operations.

Following hurricane activity in the region, an asset integrity evaluation indicated the flange welds on the carbon steel risers may have been subject to accelerated fatigue. The customer required a robust and reliable examination to assure continued integrity and confidence with regulatory authorities.

An on-line examination with no operational interruption was required deployed through externally applied Thermal Spray Aluminium (TSA) coating. The principal NDT technique was ultrasonic “Time-of-Flight-Diffraction” (TOFD), with additional Pulse Echo compression wave and angled shear wave tests. In addition, Computed Radiography was carried out to ensure the welds were free from any gross volumetric flaws.

Both UT and RT systems were delivered by a team of 19 personnel including divers and dive support, who were specially trained in an underwater training facility. All divers received 40 hours of radiation safety and radiography technique instruction, as well as certificates of training in assembly and set-up of the UT system at depth. Advanced NDT support was provided by experts on the surface using a combination of CCTV and standard diver communication from the dive shack.

Dave Medeiros

There’s a 900 pound gorilla in the room. It’s the Inspection, Repair and Maintenance (IRM) intervention task that no one wants to plan on, budget for or execute. It usually means that a completed inspection has indicated something is damaged or has failed and must be repaired. The IRM project is typically not the shiny new installation project with a sizable budget for capital expenditures and an expansive schedule full of high expectations for production rates and profits to match. Instead, it’s the challenge that has stopped or throttled back production. It’s the necessary evil that requires opening operational expenditure budgets and planning ahead for the unexpected in uncharted waters. Reviewing the history of the IRM interventions, we also look forward to new technologies that will advance the efficiency of future IRM interventions to better mitigate the challenges we face in our industry.

Jason Stanley

Spool pieces and jumpers are required to connect subsea structures such as manifolds and pipelines. They are often made of rigid materials due to the pressure and type of material being exported through them. Being rigid and inflexible they cannot be fabricated until the subsea structures have first been installed onto the seabed. Highly accurate measurements are then required between the connecting hubs on the subsea structures in order to fabricate a spool or jumper to fit exactly between the hubs. The method of collecting these measurements is called Metrology.

The completion of spool metrology using a Long Baseline acoustic system is now the primary technique in subsea construction.  Survey companies developed techniques for conducting acoustic metrology back in the 1980’s and since then, many thousands of spools have been successfully made to measure in varying water depths from the shallow plains in the north sea to the extreme depths of the Gulf of Mexico.  Acoustic metrology was introduced to offer a cost- effective alternative to diver taut wire metrology.  The accuracies offered by acoustic measurements meet and often surpass the ranging accuracies achievable by taut wire observations and the deployment and recovery of equipment by ROV removes the requirement for divers.  This means that metrology can be completed from a vessel with a considerably lower day rate than a DSV.

In recent years the introduction of multi-sensor endcaps, more compact housings and Wideband™ signal technology in Sonardynes Compatt 5 transponder has increased the efficiency with which acoustic metrology can be conducted regardless of the depth of water.

Ian Griffiths

Subsea survey, intervention and inspection utilizing ROV’s is a technologically and operationally mature industry. The ATOM™, SMD’s newest subsea product evolution, has been designed with an Operational system point of view addressing areas that drive ROV owner / operator cost efficiency and economics. ROV system interfaces and advances in the areas of high integrity, high bandwidth data channels, ROV subsea navigation without acoustics, HDTV interfacing and video capture are discussed along with design enhancements that reduce system deck footprint and weight. ROV system day rate costs and how they are impacted by initial ROV system design decisions are discussed. Day rate costs are detail reviewed in relation to vessel size requirements, operational manpower required, and technology applications.

Andrew McMurtrie

A market needs to have a specific requirement for certain new technology to as opposed to technology for technology sake. If a vessel can be more productive and/or efficient in the field by carrying the relevant tools then there are many benefits for all.

NCS Survey have invested over £2.5m in new technology since forming over 4 years ago with the most recent and most significant investment being in two man-portable, low logistics Autonomous Underwater Vehicles. These vehicles can be programmed with a mission, deployed from an offshore vessel, small near-shore vessel or even directly from shore, execute their mission without support from a vessel and return with data normally requiring a vessel and/or ROV to obtain. The vehicles also include Seebyte AutoTrack capability that allows the pre-programmed mission to be modified depending on where the system finds linear features such as pipelines and track the actual feature.

This presentation will cover the capabilities of the systems, present some applications and advantages to the customer, as well as some data from projects performed to date, including shallow water pipeline inspection of various pipelines, as well as general hydrographic surveys.

Chris Hancock

Accurate and reliable inspection of subsea pipelines traditionally requires the use of multiple sensors, which again have different requirements for range and geometry. This makes pipeline inspection a time-consuming and costly process. The use of high-resolution synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) can potentially change this substantially. Current state of the art interferometric SAS systems offer very high resolution imagery and bathymetry over a very wide swath. Mounted on an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), such a system can provide highly detailed data sets of a pipeline with just one or two passes – either fully autonomously, or with operator supervision is desired. A typical operation can be as follows: The AUV is pre-programmed to run two tracks; one on each side of the pipeline. With a speed of 4 knots, the effective coverage is about 2 nmi of pipeline with a swath width of 500-600 m. The two views of the pipeline can be merged to provide a high- resolution three-dimensional view.

In June 2009, a Kongsberg Maritime HUGIN 1000MR AUV equipped with a HISAS 1030 interferometric SAS performed such a pipeline inspection mission outside Western Norway. The HISAS data was processed to 3x3 cm resolution imagery and fully co-registered bathymetry with a resolution of approximately 10x10 cm. Figure 1 shows example SAS images from this mission. Due to the wide swath of HISAS 1030 and the high navigation accuracy of the HUGIN AUV, pre-existing knowledge of the pipeline position is usually more than sufficient for correct AUV positioning. However, the real-time side scan data provided by HISAS can also be used to track the pipeline in real-time and adjust the trajectory as needed. The presentation will show examples of data recorded during the mission.

Bert Johansson

Increasing use and complexity of subsea installations has put focus on the costs of maintaining these systems. In addition, access to these systems is sometimes limited by adverse weather and ice conditions. Conventional methods for intervention, maintenance and repair (IMR) using surface ships and ROVs are very expensive furthermore are response and mobilization times slow. To address this Saab Underwater Systems is in the process of developing a hovering Hybrid AUV/ROV system to remotely perform IMR without or strongly reduced need for a supporting ship. This system is based on the Double Eagle SAROV, a hovering Hybrid AUV/ROV in production for the military market and proven components from Saab Seaeye ROV product range.

This paper will present the Seaeye Sabertooth offshore system, its design and concept of operation. It will also present our cooperation projects with a number of companies for this system.

Dan McLeod

Advanced sensors coupled with maturing AUVs and autonomous software are enabling the introduction of AUVs into the working subsea oil field. Not unlike the 1970s when ROVs were being introduced to the Offshore Oil industry AUVs are maturing in capability and reliability and are ready to prove their utility to the industry. While AUVs will never replace ROVs or Divers there is increasing need to reduce operational costs for routine tasks that can be performed more effectively by a properly outfitted AUV. Oil & Gas industry consortia have defined key tasks required in deepwater fields of the future and technology gaps have been identified along with a road map to provide these capabilities.

Jonathan Epstein

Increasing use and complexity of subsea installations has put focus on the costs of maintaining these systems. In addition, access to these systems is sometimes limited by adverse weather and ice conditions. Conventional methods for intervention, maintenance and repair (IMR) using surface ships and ROVs are very expensive furthermore are response and mobilization times slow. To address this Saab Underwater Systems is in the process of developing a hovering Hybrid AUV/ROV system to remotely perform IMR without or strongly reduced need for a supporting ship. This system is based on the Double Eagle SAROV, a hovering Hybrid AUV/ROV in production for the military market and proven components from Saab Seaeye ROV product range.

This paper will present the Seaeye Sabertooth offshore system, its design and concept of operation. It will also present our cooperation projects with a number of companies for this system.

Dr. Ioseba Tenav

he Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) has established itself as the tool of choice for subsea operations. From humble beginnings as observation platforms, the ROVs have come a long way to become fully fledged survey and IRM tools. They have repeatedly risen to the challenge as the industry moved to deeper waters and harsher environments. Their success has been largely based on the fact that they have been able to deliver human-in-the-loop intervention in the most remote and inaccessible regions of the world. But as the demands on ROVs increase so do the demands on the supporting technology. Tethers must be made to operate at thousands of meters of depth and the tether and umbilical become an important part of the operation. The consequence of surge and its effect on the tether and the ROV is considered one of the prime causes of inaccuracies and time-delays in survey data.

The smart ROV will use software solutions to fuse data from sensors and automate processes with the view to improve operations. The first step on the smart ladder was taken by Dynamic Positioning (DP) capable ROVs. These systems fuse data from navigation sensors to stabilise the ROV and automatically compensate for tether effects. The next step has been the introduction of alternative piloting modes to expedite operations and improve data products. Auto-hover, Cruise, Survey and Target Tracking modes are examples of what is currently possible. With these modes the ROV is capable of carrying out complex tasks, such as following waypoints laid out in a chart or orbiting around a target automatically detected on the sonar screen; all at the touch of a button using a simple interface.

These modes provide ROV pilots with the opportunity to concentrate solely on the job at hand and to produce timely and accurate data output. The benefits to operations are tangible and will be discussed in the presentation.

Edward Moller

ROV and AUV surveys are taking place in ever increasing water depths for exploration and drilling, survey and construction and IRM. The required positional accuracy for these surveys rarely change, yet the accuracy of the positioning systems themselves are often depth/range dependant. Sonardynes latest technology, 6G® offers major performance improvements for USBL, LBL and Inertial positioning systems along with simple and intuitive to operate software and hardware. New instruments now enable fast, robust data telemetry and ranging ability for all subsea survey applications. This presentation focuses on the new 6G® USBL transceivers and Wideband® 2 signal technology already in use around the world. Case examples include scientific research operations in 15,000ft water depth; optimised USBL systems performing to accuracy equivalent to 0.1% of the water depth on temporary over the side installations; and new combined transceivers and attitude sensors working in 10,000ft water depth. Case examples utilising Inertial technology installed on both the vessel and subsea vehicle for improved precision are also demonstrated as well as some LBL examples. Plus a look into the near future to see what alternative systems such as 3D LBL seabed arrays will offer.

Lars Dall

The implementation of pipeline inspection functionalities in EIVAs 3D modelling tool, NaviModel3, has brought together a series of tools on a single platform. The tools can be used either simultaneously or one-by-one in a fully integrated solution, that has been developed with focus on 3D visualisation in order provide a highly intuitive and optimized environment for the post-processing. The solution includes:

• Conventional Digital Terrain Modelling tools in a 3D environment
• Comprehensive 3D visualisation functionalities
• Pipe Functions:
o Pipetracker functions
o Digitization of pipelines
o Automatic placing of pipeline
o Generation of sideflags, standard as well as user flags
• Video integration
• Offline eventing
• Generic exporting functionalities

Bengt Sahlberg

The key to successful underwater vision is getting rid of the water! This cliché is as old as underwater photography itself, but it’s still true today. Depth, distance, lighting, turbidity of the water, salinity, and pollution all contribute to the visibility, and the perception of size, shape, and colour of underwater objects. Adding the abilities and limitations of the human eye and brain makes this a very challenging environment. However, technological development is rapidly pushing the limits of what we can see and do underwater. The revolutionary method of lyynification™ takes a whole new approach. Each video frame is optimized for contrast and colour spectrum to make it as “natural” as possible to the human eye. Even the smallest fragments of colour and object shape can be extracted from the camera sensor to restore the scene as much as possible. And all this is done in real-time. The result is an image that constantly self-adjusts to the environment and the diver or ROV pilot can focus on mission objectives.

Andy Wilby

Over the last several years Applied Signal Technology has been developing the PROSAS Surveyor synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) system. AST’s real time SAS overcomes the limitations of traditional sidescan technology by using lower frequencies for increased range while creating in software a long “virtual” array for constant resolution of 3cm in both along and across track directions.

Combined with its high area coverage rates and ease of deployment, what was once considered a technology for special applications is now finding usefulness as a fast and efficient tool for seabed and infrastructure assessment. The high quality imagery simplifies the interpretation of subsea geology, and saves significant time in the chart production phase.

AST’s modular design greatly expands the utility of PROSAS Surveyor. The system is easily integrated onto AUV, ROTV, or dead tow platforms and operates from shallow coastal waters to full ocean depth. The onboard inertial navigation system and other aiding sensors contribute to the highly accurate positional and geo-referenced data output, including GeoTIFF format, and also help to create a more efficient work flow interface to the back end process of chart
production.

Mr. Wilby will provide a system overview, and share data from recent pipeline inspection surveys.

Daniel Esser

Increasing global demand for energy challenges the offshore oil & gas industry to push the boundaries and seek resources in extreme environments. Increasing public and industry environmental awareness and concern simultaneously place the focus on effective monitoring and safe process control systems. Of course, large spills lead to reflection of the long term and mobile leak detection system requirements. Well-rounded leak detection systems can increase the lifetime of a subsea structure and save investments. CONTROS therefore has established a site specific monitoring concept and appropriate system for even the harshest environments to identify even the smallest hydrocarbon releases at subsea structures to prevent incidents.

Jim Britton

The world’s ageing offshore pipeline infrastructure is being required to provide service way beyond original design life in many areas. This paper will discuss the technologies currently being used to extend the life of cathodic protection systems on offshore pipelines. Project case histories will be presented on shelf and deepwater assets, diver assist and ROV deployed methods will be covered. The paper will also present new AUV ready condition monitoring technologies being offshore tested in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the challenges associated with performance verification on buried offshore pipelines.

Jonathan Martin

Inertial is not a new technology although it has yet to stabilise itself as a commonly used tool in the subsea surveyor’s toolbox. The reasons for this could be commercial as new technology will always offer some risk; or the varied techniques in which inertial can be applied; or the various manufactures’ offering various grades of inertial systems honed to particular techniques and/or applications. Sonardyne’s Lodestar INS (Inertial Navigation System) is designed to address all of these issues by offering low risk inertial techniques using aiding data from already trusted acoustic techniques such as USBL and LBL. It is also capable of running standalone if required and can be physically housed either in it’s own instrument casing, or mechanically combined with either a USBL transceiver (for surface INS applications) or even housed with an intelligent subsea transponder for wireless inertial tasks such as structure installation or metrology. This presentation will offer a brief theory of the principles of inertial navigation and explain the inertial techniques available such as DVL, USBL and LBL aided solutions. It will also introduce Sonardynes Lodestar sensor and its various physically guises such as GyroUSBL and GyroCompatt along with trials and operational data.