Oceaneering has, trough one of its wholly owned subsidiaries, won a contract with Equinor to provide a resident, battery-powered electric remotely operated vehicle (E-ROV) system to support subsea inspection, maintenance and repair activities.
The contract is for a three-year term with two one-year optional extension periods. It follows the technology development contract by Equinor in January 2017 for the development, manufacturing, testing, and mobilization the E-ROV.
The E-ROV system is expected to be deployed in water depths up to 1000 meters on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.
Work under the contract is scheduled to begin in early December 2018.
Martin J. McDonald , senior vice president of ROVs, stated: “As the foremost work-class ROV service provider in the world, with extensive experience in ROV technology, we are excited by this award with Equinor to provide this revolutionary, resident ROV system. The E-ROV system is capable of operating for extended periods of time without being recovered to the surface, which greatly reduces the requirement for a surface vessel onsite. ”
The E-ROV system is piloted from one of Oceaneering’s onshore Mission Support Centers, using the company’s proprietary remote piloting and automated control technology, or RPACT. The RPACT transfers ROV control data and live, high-definition video with low latency, using a 4G mobile broadband signal transmitted from a buoy on the water’s surface. This technology also deploys machine vision learning and augmented reality techniques, and allows for efficiencies and versatility that lead to real-time control of the ROV and its tooling.