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New AUV for Subsea Inspections

Published Dec 8, 2015 4:24 PM by The Maritime Executive

Vehicles that make detailed inspections of subsea pipelines, facilities and structures are the focus of an R&D project – codenamed FlatFish – being undertaken by BG Brasil and the Brazilian Institute of Robotics (BIR).

BG Brasil demonstrated the Flatfish autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to the public for the first time in December at the Senai CIMATEC university campus in Bahia, Brazil.

FlatFish is a lightweight, low cost vehicle able to carry out subsea inspections completely autonomously. It will reside subsea and be capable of undocking from a submerged docking station, carrying out an inspection mission and returning to base, all without human intervention.

Historically, remote operated vehicles (ROVs) or divers have been used to inspect underwater structures, but these methods are more costly, inefficient and can take many weeks to plan and deploy. 

While ROVs require specialist support vessels with large numbers of personnel on board, FlatFish will operate without human intervention – other than defining the inspection mission and initiating the launch. In addition to the obvious cost savings, it will eliminate the safety risks attached to operating ROV vessels, and it can be deployed whenever required, says BG. 

Flatfish is also expected to be a useful emergency response tool for offshore operations.

The Flatfish project aims to reduce operating costs and mitigate production losses and the risks of major accidents through increased inspection frequencies, and higher-quality inspection results.

The first phase of the project has developed, tested and trialled two prototype vehicles: one has been built and tested in Germany and the second in Brazil. A second phase will be launched in early 2016, leading to the construction of a production vehicle, which will be field-trialled in a BG Group asset. Future developments will include the addition of manipulation and intervention capabilities to the vehicle.

The FlatFish project is the first initiative under a long-term collaboration between BG Group and BIR, funded through the Brazilian government's R&D levy, which requires that one percent of gross production revenue from large Brazilian oil and gas fields to be invested in R&D in Brazil.