This paper has been prepared to provide an objective overview of current ROV Technology and to "snapshot" the state of development of Heavy Work ROV systems designed to address Deepwater subsea Remote Intervention tasks The paper will provide an overview of
Trends in Subsea Remote Intervention Technology Requirements
Current Work ROV Capabilities
Project Case examples of Deepwater Work ROV Solutions
2,000m and Greater ROV Design Requirements-How are we Doing, what do we need?
Trends in ROV remote intervention technology are driven by the global trends in offshore oil & gas exploration and technology These are driven largely by the economics of development, and also by the geographic and technological barriers which stand in the way of further exploration and production Key economic and technological drivers of subsea intervention technology include
Increased deep water exploration and development to 3,000m and beyond
Marglnal field development strategies
lower expenditure per well, including
subsea completion is with inter-field subsea pipelines
use of subsea templates
Increased use of totally diverless subsea intervention systems
Increased regulatory requirements and oversight in offshore production
Increased emphasis on personnel safety and equipment certification
Increasing emphasis on cost effectiveness in development
These global trends in exploration and production have had an overriding impact on the development of subsea remote intervention technologies including the ROV systems used One significant worldwide trend in the past few years has been the phasing out of fixed production platforms in favor of subsea templates, tension leg platforms, and floating production systems, with the corresponding increase in use of inter-field pipeline systems This trend has resulted in radical expansion of subsea intervention tasks, and has boosted the use of totally diverless intervention Typical ROV intervention tasks (by no means all inclusive) for these types of installation include
Guidewire installation
Component installation and replacement
Template/wellhead workover
valve operation and emergency override
valve maintenance and testing
isolation of wellhead control and chemical injection systems
Riser installation and inspection
Umbilical and flowline installation
Pipeline inspection
Pipeline bunal, debunal
Cable bunal, debunal and maintenance
Remote Deepwater Pipe Repar Solutions
Today's new Work ROV systems incorporate features which have emerged as necessary solutions to support the ROV Intervention tasks required for current Deepwater projects and to address the needs to support future deepwater applications including
Subsea Completion is in 1500, 2000, 2500 and 3500m Water depths
Support of FPSO early completion Systems
Deployment of Well Service Work Packages and Tooling Concepts
Installation of Flexlble flowlines and support of Deepwater pipeline operations
The Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV) which operate in today's offshore environment bear little or no resemblance to those which first began supporting offshore oil & gas work requirements fifteen to twenty years ago In that short span of time, an explosion of subsea technology has occurred, rendering older ROV equipment obsolete and expanding subsea re
