Revealing the big picture
BP’s global environmental response expert, Peter Collinson, says: “MAS open up a new scale of environmental assessment: whether that’s natural change, or the effects of industry operations. With more data, we have a clearer insight of what’s going on.
While BP has a long history of using robotic underwater vehicles, autonomous capability is relatively new, as Joe Little, senior technology consultant in BP’s digital innovation organisation, explains: “We use large-scale remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and divers, but these need to be deployed and supported by very large crews and vessels.”
Unlike ROVs, which need to be tethered to and controlled by a ship, an AUV can quickly launch and get straight to work. This is a massive advantage in an emergency, when greater awareness and faster response times can help minimise environmental damage.
Little adds: “The advancement of robotics has moved us to an entirely new class of vehicles that are significantly smaller and more agile. They’re also considerably lower in cost [than ROVs], which means we can use more of them to multiply the data we can get, and therefore make more informed decisions.”
Combined with a better understanding of the environment, the low cost of the vehicles could lead to more frequent and detailed inspections of subsea infrastructure, giving earlier warning of any potential issues.
As well as this, in some situations, MAS avoids the need to send divers into the water, and allows exploration of areas that were previously inaccessible or inhospitable.
Underwater visibility
MAS offer more than just data in quantity. Quality is also improving. Murky images of the deep are now replaced by crystal clear feeds and pictures. For example, an AUV has photographed individual bolts on a sunken military boat more than 1km under the ocean’s surface – a very useful feature during high-resolution surveys for sensitive species and archaeological artefacts.
Visibility is also improved by being able to access and examine exact locations. “We can now repeatedly measure the same square metre of seabed up to 3km deep, rendering objects in 3D and detecting change over time,” explains Collinson.
This is a radical improvement on current underwater surveying techniques like grab samples, that involve taking intermittent photos of an area.
Collinson says: “We might have just 100 images of 1,000 square kilometres of ocean seabed: tiny pinpricks of information across a vast area. With MAS, we’re going to flip that around so we’ll know everything with just a few pinpoints of uncertainty.”
Rapid strike
In 2010, Wave Glider surface vehicles were used during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill response to monitor for oil on the sea surface. Five years later, BP teamed up with the Scottish Association of Marine Science (SAMS) to test underwater vehicles’ rapid-strike capability in the North Sea.
Responding to a simulated incident in an oilfield west of Shetland, a Seaglider AUV was launched to monitor the presence of hydrocarbons in the ocean. Diving up to 500m deep and surfacing regularly to transmit near real-time data back by satellite to decision-makers onshore.
“The data was filtered and became a new layer on our common operating response system. With one click you could see concentrations of hydrocarbon, temperatures, depth and track position,” says Collinson.
Pool of knowledge
If the trials in the Gulf of Mexico are successful, BP plans to employ a fleet of AUVs to continuously monitor these pipelines, and may also expand the trial to other regions.
Back on dry land, BP regularly runs tests and demonstrations at the Marine Research Innovation Centre (MRIC) at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, UK.
Collinson says: “Through membership of the MRIC, we get access to more than 20 years of autonomous systems technology and knowledge. It’s a great forum for us to work with manufacturers and peers, and learn from sectors beyond oil and gas that may be more advanced with these systems.”
Length: 1.8m | Weight: 93kg
Max depth: 1km | Max speed: 6kts
Best for: manoeuvrability
Length: 5m | Weight: 230kg
Range: 800km/week | Max speed: 4kts
Best for: long range and endurance
Length: 5.8m | Weight: 3,500kg
Max depth: 30m | Max speed: 6kts
Best for: subsea monitoring
Length: 2m | Weight: 52kg
Max depth: 1km | Max speed: 0.5kts
Best for: long range
Length: 4.7m | Weight: 850kg
Max depth: 3km | Max speed: 6kts
Best for: deep water
Length: 125m teather
Endurance: 8 hours
Best for: portable remote-controlled HD camera
Length: 0.5m | Weight: 15kg
Range: 150km | Max speed: 4kts
Best for: rapid response
