Ted Moon • Houston
EV Offshore introduces new subsea camera
EV Offshore Ltd. has introduced a subsea camera module developed specifically to detect the dispersible red trace dyes used by leak detection specialists to identify leaks in wellheads, pipelines, platforms, and gas storage facilities.
By 2020, it is likely that industrial chemicals carrying a substitution warning will not be allowed to be discharged in the UKCS, and limits on quantities being discharged have already been tabled by the UK Department of Trade and Industry.
In response, a safe alternative dye with which to run these critical leak detection tests has been widely sought after by the oil and gas industry, and an environmentally friendly red trace dye that biodegrades rapidly has been developed to assist in detecting leaks.
EV Offshore’s camera inspection system, the EVO-SL60HT, can visually detect this red trace dye. The camera is designed to interact with the specific wavelength of light that the red trace dye emits when it is released into the sea.
The system is fitted with integrated green LEDs that excite the dye, so there is no need for additional external lamps.
The camera’s special optical filters optimize visible spectrum performance.
It is anticipated that the system will be used to detect leaks at depths up to 1 km.
Leak inspection field trials in the North Sea on behalf of a major operator are nearing completion.
Following these field trials, EV Offshore will be carrying out leak detection operations in the North Sea for a number of operators.
Schilling Robotics adds another ROV to the GoM
Schilling Robotics will deliver a second ultra heavy-duty (UHD) ROV to Phoenix International for operation in the GoM. Sale of the ROV, the UHD 06, was announced at the 2006 Subsea Tieback Conference and Exhibition held in Galveston, Texas.
The UHD 06 will feature the same 200-shp power (generating 1.4 metric tons of thrust) and 3,500-m depth rating as the UHD sold to Phoenix in late 2005. The system will include Schilling’s XE extended TMS system with 600 m of tether.
The UHD 06 ROV will be delivered to the Phoenix Subsea Projects Group in Houston, Texas, in July 2006 and will join the Phoenix UHD 05 system for operations in the GoM.
InterMoor completes mooring installation off Malaysia
InterMoor Inc. has completed the engineering, procurement, and installation of suction piles and drag embedment anchors with associated subsea connectors for preset mooring lines in the Kikeh field offshore Sabah, East Malaysia.
InterMoor designed the mooring system to allow relocation of the field-based mobile offshore drilling unit (MODU) and to facilitate drilling operations in an area with complex subsea architecture including permanent mooring systems, flowlines, subsea wells, and other structures.
Water depths at the Kikeh field’s drilling locations range from 4,200 to 4,400 ft (1,280 to 1,340 m). This marks the first-ever use of suction piles for mooring off the coast of Malaysia.
InterMoor also managed the mooring operations on the current world record MODU mooring performed for Murphy offshore Sabah in 7,086 ft (2,160 m) of water in 2004.
Kikeh is scheduled to have first production in the latter half of 2007. Murphy Sabah Oil operates the field along with its partner Petronas Carigali Bhd.
DMT expands subsea services fleet
Deep Marine Technology Inc. has purchased a new 292-ft vessel, theDMT Emerald. The US-flagged vessel has been equipped to perform suction pile installations, subsea tree installations, umbilical laying, and well interventions.
Features of the vessel include: 100-metric ton knuckle boom crane; 100-metric ton heave-compensated multi-purpose tower; 24 x 24 moonpool; 2 heavy-work class ROVs; DP2 positioning; and crew accommodations for 76.
TheDMT Emerald will be available in 4Q 2006. •
Compact ROV provides heavy seas drill support
Italian contractor DNT Offshore has taken delivery of a specially designed compact work ROV that can perform a wide range of drill support tasks in heavy seas, including AX ring removal.
In its search for ways to get more work from smaller ROVs, the Ravenna-based company collaborated with ROV maker Seaeye to expand the capability of the Seaeye Cougar into performing a greater range of tasks, and to be safe for operating in sea state six.
Cougar ROV with disc cutter, manip water jet, and piggyback AX ring tool skid cutter.
The solution came from DNT’s piggybacking, mounting one on top of the other, interchangeable tooling skids. The company specifically wanted the capability to perform manipulative and bulls eye cleaning tasks while having the newly designed AX ring-removal tool skid attached.
Seaeye proved the concept in testing and managed to keep the size and weight of the finished vehicle down by repackaging proven tool configurations into a smaller space with a lower profile.
For safer operations in heavy weather, Seaeye’s design of snubber-rotator was provided to capture the tether management system (TMS) with its ROV firmly at the head of the A-frame before rotating it fore and aft between the legs for recovery on deck.
This is the third Cougar delivered to DNT Offshore, whose first contract for the system is off West Africa. DNT also operates two Seaeye Falcon systems and has a third on order.
