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Oil and Gas Decommissioning
Our Autosub meets your decommissioning survey needs
As offshore oil and gas installations reach the end of their life appropriate environmental assessment and monitoring programmes become vital to comply with regulators’ requirements, ensuring that any potential impacts are detected and mitigating action taken.
As more and more installations reach this decommissioning phase NOC has developed and proven its Autosub autonomous underwater vehicle technology to provide a survey and monitoring service that is both highly cost effective, safe and supports operator’s needs.
Our Autosub Long Range vehicle can provide fully autonomous monitoring of multiple decommissioning sites gathering all the data required for NOC scientists to produce a detailed marine environmental survey often without the need, cost or carbon footprint of a support vessel.
NOC Innovations' Autosub
AT-SEA Mission
Our Autonomous Techniques for Infra Structure Ecological Assessment (AT-SEA) project mission in 2022 successfully demonstrated how our Autosub Long Range vehicle could be used to explore and visually map end-of-life oil fields. Our Autosub was launched from the shore in Shetland to collect vital data in areas surrounding several decommissioned oil and gas structures in NW Hutton and Miller as well as the Braemar Pockmarks Marine Protected Area.
The ALR performed two separate missions, travelling 1,013km over 21 days, powered by rechargeable batteries, and using the equivalent energy of just two litres of diesel.
During the mission our Autosub captured high-quality images, using a low power 3D visual mapping system to obtain highly detailed colour images and topographical measurements of the seafloor in addition to mapping and water column sensor-based measurements, which could be used to produce an integrated environmental assessment at sites relevant to decommissioning.
Our commercial ALR is available to serve you
We have leveraged our world-leading autonomous vehicle and sensor technology by making available an Autosub ALR 1500 vehicle and operating team for commercial applications, which you can hire as a service. This vehicle will operate predominantly in the North Sea and normally be shored launched and recovered to complete its missions.
Equipped with flexible packages of chemical sensors (dependent upon application), advanced sonars and camera system, this Autosub is a perfect fit for oil and gas decommissioning applications.
Through the success of the AT-SEA mission, we have demonstrated how this leading robotic technology from NOC could be used worldwide to support crucial ocean monitoring, while drastically reducing carbon emissions. Autonomous submarines offer many advantages over current approaches; improving the quality and quantity of information while cutting the cost and environmental impact for a survey ship and its crew.
Dr Daniel Jones
Project lead for AT-SEA