Oceaneering to get equipment that ‘dramatically’ reduces subsea geotechnical surveying time

Oceaneering has placed an order with a UK-headquartered company for a next-generation auto-drop piston corer expected to enable time-saving for subsea geotechnical surveying.

A piston corer is a long, heavy tube plunged into the seafloor to extract samples of soft sediment, which provide information for developers building offshore installations such as wind turbines, oil & gas pipelines or undersea cables.

UK’s Feritech Global has completed the design and build of what is said to be a next-generation auto-drop piston corer for Oceaneering, stating that it is expected to “dramatically reduce the amount of time needed for subsea geotechnical surveying, increasing safety and efficiency, whilst reducing costs.”

The new system can be programmed, lowered to pre-set sea depth and then automatically released, which is said to provide much greater precision and faster speeds than traditional piston corers launched manually by a trigger mechanism.

Rob Ferris, Managing Director of Feritech Global, said: “The new auto-drop piston corer technology represents a step change in precision and efficiency. We estimate that this new product will enable seabed samples to be collected up to ten times faster than with traditional piston corers.”

The launch and recovery system (LARS) and the winch can be operated remotely, through a control panel which is integrated into a lightweight wearable pack. This allows the operator to carry the control panel on the front of his body, making it portable and flexible. As a result, piston corer operations can be carried out by only one person, whereas previously at least two staff would have been needed to operate all the equipment required, Feritech noted.

The upgraded LARS system also includes a new, strengthened barrier rail, which can withstand pressures of up to two tons.

Oceaneering plans to deploy the new auto-drop piston corer in the international market.

“We are delighted with the outcome of this pioneering development project. This innovative new system will help increase the safety and efficiency of our subsea survey operations and help us continue to build our Geoscience market position,” said Brandon Wacasey, Project Management Lead for Survey and Geotechnical Operations at Oceaneering.

Oceaneering recently completed its first onshore piloting of a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) from an onshore remote operation center (OROC) in Brazil.

The operation was carried out in partnership with the Brazilian oil & gas giant Petrobras.

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