Working hard for the Olympics
  from: Offshore Engineer
  Monday, April 07, 2008

A newbuild multiservice vessel has joined the deepwater Gulf of Mexico ranks, and it doesn’t look like the Olympic Triton will leave the area any time soon. OE reviews some of the latest ROV/AUV technology talking points.

Built on spec during a time of growing demand for deepwater ROV support vessels, Canyon Offshore’s Olympic Triton hit the Gulf of Mexico ready to work in December.

Canyon Offshore will use the DP2 newbuild to support parent company’s Helix Energy Solutions’ redevelopment of the Phoenix (formerly Typhoon) field, the subsea tie-back Helix’s Noonan and Danny deepwater discoveries and similar projects.

Canyon believed enough in growing demand for deepwater multiservice vessels that in 2006 it entered two longterm charters with Norway-based Olympic Shipping.

‘When we committed to these charters 15 months ago, we didn’t have any work for it, but we felt pretty confident about it,’ says Bart Heijermans, Helix’s executive vice president and chief operating officer.

It appears the company’s confidence was not misplaced, as the Olympic Triton has one year’s worth of work scheduled for the Gulf of Mexico, and sister vessel Olympic Canyon won a three-year contract for inspection, repair and maintenance (IRM) work in southeast Asia.

Heijermans says the company plans to use Canyon’s fleet of chartered DP vessels not only to support larger vessels like the Caesar S-Lay pipelay vessel under construction for ultradeep pipelay operations but also to carry out smaller deepwater projects.

‘Canyon has become very successful at bundling third-party vessels with their robotic assets to provide key customers with a full suite of subsea intervention,’ Heijermans said following the Olympic Canyon award.

Canyon says it is looking for two additional multipurpose vessels to meet current demand. According to Heijermans, Canyon is pursuing several long-term IRM contract opportunities, and Canyon requires a vessel for its new reeled pipelay system being fabricated in the UK.

Getting to work

The Olympic Shipping P101 designed vessel will perform its maiden job on the Phoenix deepwater field in the Gulf of Mexico.

At Phoenix, the vessel will recover stab and hinge over connections to refurbish and redeploy, likely in the same field, says Gordon Wilkinson, general manager for business development.

The Helix-operated Phoenix, formerly the Chevron-operated Typhoon, holds some 47bcf of net proved reserves, is in 2000ft of water. First production from the field in Green Canyon blocks 236/237 is expected in the second half of 2008.

Following the Phoenix effort, the Olympic Triton was slated to mobilize for subsea intervention work for Shell, Wilkinson says.

Purpose-built at the Ulstein Verft yard in Norway, the vessel was designed and equipped for global operations.

‘This vessel surpasses industry standards with regard to its multi-purpose capabilities, deepwater work performance, fuel efficiency and offshore environmental performance,’ notes Canyon Offshore senior vice president Doug Stroud.

The Olympic Triton has two Triton XLS ROVs onboard, each rated to 3000m. Wilkinson says these are stored in fully enclosed ROV hanger decks. Perry Slingsby’s Triton XLS work class ROV system has a 650m tether cable and 3000kg of lifting capability.

‘Its reinforced moonpool is capable of taking a derrick for well intervention work when needed,’ says Canyon Offshore president Cliff Chamblee.

The 150t crane is active heave compensated and rated to 2500m, Wilkinson says. ‘It’s got a lot of reach.’

The DP2 vessel has a full complement of survey equipment in the bridge, he says, and the bridge allows full access to the deck.

Wilkinson notes the helicopter pad, located on the bow about 26m over the water, is large enough to accommodate the Super Puma and the Sikorski S61 choppers.

‘It’s fully rated for the Gulf,’ he says. OE

Panther’s cut and thrust

The Panther XT launched recently by electric work-class ROV specialist Saab Seaeye is a more powerful, deeper swimming version of the Panther Plus model with a much greater tooling capability.

The new vehicle, with its increased depth rating from 1000m to 1500m, comes with two hydraulic manipulators, a 12 function hydraulic solenoid pack, a pan and tilt camera, four simultaneous video channels. Options include survey suites and tracking systems.

New technology has doubled thruster power and significantly increased performance, says the company. Increasing the thruster motor voltage from 250v to 500v has allowed the number of thrusters onboard to be cut from ten on the Panther Plus to six on the Panther XT, freeing valuable space within the vehicle for additional tooling and sensors without the need for an underslung skid – although one could be added for specialist operations, if needed, explains Saab.

‘Greater power also means more powerful tooling can be used and heavier items handled, along with faster ascent and descent to deeper work sites,’ adds the company. ‘Operators will welcome this extra performance from a class of electric work ROVs that offers a significantly lower cost alternative to hydraulic ROV systems. Typically the Seaeye Panther XT weighs less than a quarter of its hydraulic work-class ROV equivalent; takes about a third of the deck space and needs fewer crew. It is easier to mobilise, maintain and repair, and has a “plug-and-go” simplicity of operation.’

Garage sale

Several Garage TMS (tether management systems) suitable for handling the Centurion QX work-class ROV were supplied by SMD Hydrovision (SMDH) to Subsea 7’s i-Tech division.

The Garage design is based on the same fleeting drum and tether friendly technology as SMDH’s Tophat TMS systems currently used by a number of offshore contractors. It is constructed using high strength steel and aluminium alloy to balance weight with good accessibility and payload carrying capability, offering extensive free space within the structure to cater for large tool spreads, water gycol tanks and such and enabling the TMS to support the ROV in deep water for prolonged periods of time without the need to resurface.

‘The height of the ROV bay can be quickly adjusted to cater for varying tool skids,’ says SMDH. ‘In addition the whole assembly can be easily dismantled for transportation on a standard lorry trailer.’ The TMS is controlled using the same distributed vehicle control system (DVECS) used on all the company’s TMS, ROV systems and trenchers.

The Garage system comes in two sizes. The compact version is suitable for handling lightweight and general purpose work class ROV systems such as the Quasar, Quasar Compact and Centurion QX sized vehicles. The extended version – the first of which recently underwent final testing at a flooded dock test facility – is designed for larger general purpose and construction class ROV systems such as the Quantum and Hercules.

Heading south

Australian offshore contractor Clough has placed a contract with Perry Slingsby Systems (PSS) for the delivery of two 3000m water depth rated Triton XLX ROV systems. To be delivered by PSS’ UK manufacturing base in Kirkbymoorside in the second quarter of this year, the 150hp systems will be installed on the REM Clough, a diving support and subsea construction vessel purpose-built for operating in the Asia Pacific market, which is due for completion in June.

Each TXLX system features the ICE (integrated controls engine) control system and a standard suite of survey and advanced tooling interfaces. The latest generation of subsea control system, ICE is said to provide an intuitive front end user interface with unparalleled system level diagnostics.

AUVs for India

Norway’s Kongsberg Maritime recently signed a contract with the Alcock Ashdown shipyard in Gujarat, India, for advanced autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and subsea systems worth around NKr350 million. The equipment will be installed on six new surveying vessels ordered from the shipyard by India's National Hydrographic Office.

‘The core of our delivery to India will consist of Hugin 1000 AUVs, which will be used for seabed surveying,’ reports Kongsberg Maritime sales & marketing manager Roar Marthiniussen. ‘This is by far the largest contract in this field to date. In addition to Hugin, the order includes subsea positioning equipment, multibeam echosounders and underwater cameras.’

Hugin was developed through collaboration between the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment, Royal Norwegian Navy, Statoil and Kongsberg Maritime. They started collaborating on the development of Hugin back in 1995 and the first system was put into commercial use in the North Sea two years later.

Spot the difference

The impressive results that can be achieved using today’s autonomous underwater vehicles for seabed survey work was illustrated by two images released with Fugro’s recent announcement that it was establishing a global geoconsulting service that will operate across the company’s geotechnical and survey divisions (OE last month).

The picture left shows an outcrop in 1200m of water as imaged by multibeam echo sounder from a survey vessel.

The picture right is of the same outcrop as imaged by a multibeam echo sounder deployed from an AUV.

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