Subsea 7 and SeeByte Ltd have successfully completed a pipeline inspection using Subsea 7’s Geosub AUV and SeeByte’s SeeTrack Offshore and its Autotracker module.
“These operations, funded by the BP PIMS Business Unit, inspected a world record of over 100 km of pipelines with an AUV. The team inspected sections of interest on the East of Shetland Magnus pipeline, the Clair pipeline and the West of Shetland pipeline. Subsea 7 and SeeByte worked closely with the BP TAPS (Terminals and Pipelines) team with the aim to demonstrate the commercial benefits of the technology,” said Jonathan Evans, Head of Engineering at SeeByte. “The operations included the world longest un-interrupted AUV inspection run, a total of 22.2 km running at 4 knots. This compares well/favourably to a conventional ROV inspection that would typically run at 0.5 knots.”
Colin Stevenson, Pipelines Operations Engineer with BP, stated “BP is committed to high standards when it comes to maintaining our infrastructure world wide. In order to keep these high standards it is essential that high quality information is available to us at the right time. The solution provided by the combined Subsea 7 and SeeByte offering is capable of meeting all our requirements. The quality of the side-scan data (used for General Imaging) is second to none and the video data (used for General Visual Imaging) provides experienced surveyors with the required detail.”
Engineering Manager for Subsea 7 James Jamieson said “Pipeline inspections using AUVs are now a reality. Subsea 7 is proud to have been involved in the development of this technology from initial sea trials through to a commercial product. Our Geosub vehicle provides a stable, robust and tested platform for this type of work.”
Ioseba Tena, Product Manager at SeeByte, added “We have enjoyed working alongside Subsea 7 and BP in this exciting programme. At SeeByte our main concern is to reduce our customers’ training and operational costs. With this in mind our SeeTrack Offshore system and its modules provide advanced DP functionality to both ROV and AUV platforms. The choice of the Autotracker module for high resolution and high speed AUV pipeline inspection has demonstrated the maturity of the technology. The Autotracker module paints a picture of the world and interprets that picture so that it can instruct the AUV to maintain a constant offset from the pipeline. The module is capable of accurately tracking a single pipeline amongst multiple pipelines and on varied terrains. In addition, Autotracker includes advanced search routines that enable the AUV to recover the pipeline track after an unexpected burial.”