Working underwater

Illustration : Thierry Cap de Coume

Comprehensive procedures for subsea production are expected to emerge in the next decade. This will mean that the oil field of tomorrow will be manned by rotating machines, compressors and other pumps that will need to be inspected, repaired and maintained. Some of these operations will be carried by intervention robots (or ROVs, Remote Operated Vehicles) that will no longer be powered by boats on the surface, but connected to AUVs (Autonomous Underwater Vehicles), sometime from the end of 2011 to the start of 2012 onwards. This is, in any case, is what is foreseen by Cybernetix, a French SME based in Marseilles, which has a turnover of around 17 million euros.
Amongst the leaders in robotics for complex systems and hostile environments, the company was created in 1985 and draws together some one hundred engineers and technicians. Since about ten years ago, the Oil & Gas Development and Product branch has developed several innovative underwater intervention concepts, in the vein of the Swimmer, a remotely-operated subsea intervention robot that comes with its own shuttle so that it can provide ongoing support by carrying out inspection, maintenance and light repair tasks. The aim is to cut logistical costs by diminishing dependence of operations on designated boats and by providing the petrol operator with a tool allowing the sound functioning of underwater production installations.
Concretely, the solution consists of “a robot equipped with its own camera, arms and a projector, which will be powered by an umbilical connected to its own shuttle. This shuttle will have a autonomy range of 20 kilometres,” sums up Alain Fidani, Head of Innovation and R&D Projects in the Oil and Gas Division who has devoted ten years of R&D to this project. To recharge its batteries, the AUV will stow itself to one of the power supply stations connected to the oil field electrical umbilical. “The itineraries followed by the AUV will be programmed and downloaded in the embedded calculator of the engine before the start of the mission,” indicates Alain Fidani. To follow its itinerary, the shuttle disposes of a navigation system notably composed of motion sensors and acoustic (dopler) sensors. Its real position is regularly readjusted thanks to an external acoustic positioning system. The monitoring and supervision of missions are carried out thanks to bi-directional communication between the team on the surface and the robot equipped with acoustic modems. As futuristic as it may seem, this project responds to genuine economic demands, andCybernetix is working towards this goal in conjunction with Total and Statoilhydro. Today, the ROVs require that an intervention boat be sent out to drop them off and to supply electricity during missions. A costly presence that comes to between 60,000 and 80,000 euros per day. A cost that companies will be able to limit to merely time needed for dropping off and picking up the Swimmer.

50% growth in 5 years
In 2012, the expenses of petrol and gas producers for operations taking recourse to ROVs should reach 2.4 billion dollars (1,7 billion euros). This is what stands out from The World ROV Report 2008-2012 published by Douglas-Westwood in September 2008. In 2008, estimations calculate the global ROV market to be worth 1.6 billion dollars (1.1 billion euros). According to analyst Lucy Miller, the increasing rarity of petrol at shallow depths encourages a rising demand for technologies allowing the mining of ultra-deep offshore petrol-producing zones. "Furthermore, more and more ROVs are required to maintain the thousands of deep-sea installations throughout the world." In the next five years, a total of 655 ROVs – as opposed to 411 in the last five years – will be necessary to satisfy new demands as well as to upkeep existing fleets.