Saipem is pushing developments of autonomous underwater drones, capable of inspecting subsea structures.
The company recently used its FlatFish in tests offshore Brazil, in around 1,800 metres of water. Francesco Cavallini, head of commercial Sonsub and Subsea Technologies & Services for Saipem, said the Brazil work had been a success.
“We think the technology is mature and can be applied to all those offshore projects,” Cavallini told Energy Voice, on the sidelines of the Adipec conference.
The vision
FlatFish is designed to carry out inspections without a support vessel. “It’s implicit in the design basis that we can leverage the latest AI-driven robotics technologies, with the aim of doing great things with less. Less fuel, less people at sea, less risk, less cost, less environmental impact,” he said.
There is scope for deploying such assets in the Middle East, he said, including Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The company can deploy its technologies via big projects, playing on its historic relationships in the region.
Saipem carried out initial testing of FlatFish in the north of the Adriatic Sea, in water depths similar to those in the Middle East. “We have a competitive edge in terms of maturity but we also think this technology can improve Saipem’s competitiveness.”
Emissions, costs
The company has been carrying out tests for nearly two years in a variety of environments, investigating mockups of equipment such as pipelines and Christmas trees.
Giovanni Massari, head of Sonsub Solutions and Life-of-Field Services, noted there was “appetite” for Saipem technologies in the region.
“There are clients who are willing to learn whether they can do things differently. There is a mandate to decarbonise, digitalise, leverage robotics and technology. That’s clearly a vision that clients are implementing here.”
While there is a drive for innovation, particularly around emissions, companies are also facing pressure to deliver change at a competitive price.
Cavallini said the question of cost was complex. “Where there is a very small field, with a few assets to be inspected, competitiveness is not so strong. But there’s a question about what you’re comparing it with. If you compare FlatFish with an ROV, plus a vessel, plus 50-60 people on board, plus 7-8 tons of fuel per day, plus month-to-month replanning and crew changes, plus transit time, plus waiting on weather, the numbers are much better.”
Compelling
Technology has advanced to the point that it should not be necessary to deploy 50 people on a diesel-powered boat to take a picture of a subsea asset, he said. “That’s something technology nowadays allows you to do in a much better, much convenient way.”
Looking at inspection alone, “the FlatFish case is compelling and it’s credible. As long as the client is willing to count and sum up all the benefits, it makes perfect sense.”
Using FlatFish should also provide more tailored information, that an operator can launch at any time to carry out an investigation.
“At the very end, you can potentially have more information, more freedom, more quality of the acquired data and some real insights. There’s also less risk to people,” Massari said.
One of the family
Saipem sees the benefits of a move into autonomous vehicles such as FlatFish. Cavallini said the company had been investing in the area since 2016.
FlatFish is part of the Hydrone Platform, which covers a variety of robotic vessels. It signed up in 2019 to provide the Hydrone-R to Equinor for work on the Njord field.
“We launched [the Hydrone-R] in June and since then it has been in continuous subsea work, in resident mode. That’s around three and a half months, in which it has been operational in 300 metres of water on a continuous basis,” the official said. “That’s the first one of the family … and we are very happy with its performance because it demonstrates again that the technology works and it’s mature.”
Different projects will require different technological solutions, he continued.
“All these vehicles are already customisable and they can also use different tools and different kits.”
Sustainable growth
Saipem is making plans for more such underwater drones. It is working on maintenance and preparation of FlatFish, following its Brazil work, with Cavallini saying the company had a “new vehicle planned. The demand is there. The plan is to grow sustainably.”
Saipem will continue to need skilled personnel, the official said, rejecting a suggestion that robots may displace them. “We still require experienced people to work offshore, both for Saipem’s large EPCI projects as well as to operate the FlatFish and the other drones of the Hydrone platform.”
The deployment of FlatFish, and its siblings, is intended to cut risks. It’s about the evolution of work, Cavallini said, “moving certain inspection tasks onshore, to safer environments”.
Updated at 1:53 pm to correct Cavallini’s title.