Subsea Commercial Services Ltd.

An invitation only technology showcase organised by Subsea Commercial Services (SCS) in conjunction with Forum Energy Technologies (Forum) has been hailed a success by all those involved.

With the objective of introducing new subsea technologies from three manufacturers to the Aberdeen Oil and Gas sector, the two-day event was well attended with positive feedback and outcomes for Forum and all the equipment manufacturers taking part.

Hosted at Forum’s purpose built premises, Forum House, in Westhill, Aberdeen, the event made good use of their newly opened 6 x 5 x 4.5m test tank facility, while senior technical representatives from each of the participating companies, ITER Systems (ITER), EMO Marine Technologies Ltd. (EMO) and Remote Ocean Systems (ROS), were there to ensure that all questions could be answered.

Showcase Agenda:

The purpose was to show engineers and workshop personal from a wide range of contractors and survey companies the new technologies from ITER, EMO and ROS with a range of applications such as IRM, construction work, pipeline inspections, pre-route surveys, offshore windfarms, defence, harbour and inland hydrographic surveys.

ITER Systems’ Bathyswath-2 Seabed Mapping and Side Scan Imaging System (Deck Unit) was deployed in the test tank with a 486 kHz transducer oriented by ROS’s new P15 lightweight pan and tilt. 

The Bathyswath uses wide swath widths, which increases survey speeds, especially in shallow water. It has three frequencies: 117, 234 or 468 kHz that in a dual transducer configuration respectively gives up to 800, 400 & 200m swath at 100m water depth. The US Geological Survey (USGS) said: “Operating swath of the bathymetric system ranged from 15 to 20 times water depth in in depths less than 15m”.

The Bathyswath-2 was alternately run through the EMO Marine’s Domino 7 MkII and Nano MUX fibre optic multiplexer subsea and topside units to a control station and the P15 was controlled via the Bathyswath-2 GUI.

The DOMINO-7 multiplexer is a compact fiber optic system with a wide range of MUX channels and power supply configurations. Offering 4 video, with 10 data channels, the DOMINO design also offers 2x industry standard Multi-beam ports, consisting of Gigabit Ethernet (GBE) communications, coupled with 48VDC supply voltage, all provided within the same connection.  The DOMINO-7 MUX system can rapidly be re-configured to meet the power and protocol requirements of a wide range of ocean tools and devices. The depth rating is down to 6000m and is ideal for the deployment on ROVs.

The new small EMO Nano-MUX compact fiber optic system has dramatically reduced the sub-sea form-factor offered for video and data conversion to fiber. The Nano sub-sea housing offers the ability to convert High Definition video feeds, as well as high speed Gigabit Ethernet data within the smallest and most lightweight housing available on the market to date as it only weighs 2.2 kilos in air.

The full range of kit on display included:

ITER Systems – France:

  • Bathyswath-2 Seabed Mapping and Side Scan Imaging System – Deck Unit – operational·        
  • Bathyswath-2 Seabed Mapping and Side Scan Imaging System – ROV Unit – not previously seen in Aberdeen
  • Integrated gap filler and pole mount plate highlighting modular ‘2 in 1’ survey package – not previously seen in Aberdeen

Please visit www.bathyswath.com/iter-systems for more information. 

EMO Marine – Canada:

  • Domino 7 MkII fibre optic multiplexer & topside – not previously seen in Aberdeen
  • Mini-T fibre optic multiplexer
  • Nano MUX fibre optic multiplexer & topside – not previously seen in Aberdeen

Please visit www.emomarine.com  for more information

Remote Ocean Systems – USA:

  • LED Lights – L300, MV-LED II and new L350 – not previously seen in Aberdeen
  • Pan & Tilts – P100, P20 and new P15 – not previously seen in Aberdeen
  • Cameras – C600-HD, C400 Low Light, C200 Day / Night Monitoring Camera

Please visit www.rosys.com for more information.

Christian Blinkenberg, Sales Director for Global Services at Forum was very positive after the event, “We are delighted with the turn out and response to the equipment shown, our Forum House facility and the event itself.  We all recognise the state of the industry at present and the travel restrictions this has placed on people, which limits visits to out of town conferences and exhibitions.  After discussions with SCS we wanted to offer our clients the opportunity to take an in-depth look at and hands-on experience with technologies they would not have seen in Aberdeen.”

Forum and SCS would like to thank all attendees and manufacturers for supporting the Technology Showcase.

Forum Energy Technologies is a global oilfield products company, serving the subsea, drilling, completion, production and infrastructure sectors of the oil and natural gas industry. The company’s products include highly engineered capital equipment as well as products that are consumed in the drilling, well construction, production and transportation of oil and natural gas. Forum is headquartered in Houston, TX with manufacturing and distribution facilities strategically located around the globe.

The author of this article notes that EMO Marine was purchased by MacArtney Underwater Technologies as of June 2016.