We were contracted to undertake a survey of an oil rig’s legs in Qatar. A task that may sound simple, but the rig was operational in the Persian Gulf which presented a problem – the thermally induced tides.

In the Persian Gulf there are significant tidal flows which had caused problems with previous attempts to survey the legs. These attempts had been to fly an ROV in from a vessel which was moored just off the platform, but due to the strong current dragging the umbilical this method proved unsuccessful.

The Solution:

A degree of ingenuity was required to overcome the current and successfully and safely carry out the inspection. To do this the Little Benthic Crawler (LBC) a revolutionary product which has been developed by SeaBotix was employed. The LBC combines the best of their LBV (Little Benthic Vehicle) range of ROVs with the ability to strongly adhere to any hard surface, in any orientation.

The LBC can operate like a conventional ROV but, by attaching a crawler skid and turning on the Vortex VRAM – which creates suction, it is able to adhere to a hard surface which allows precise control. With the LBC attached, it is able to driven on the hard surface.

Due to the technology involved we were able to launch and recover the ROV off the platform at each leg and drive it up and down the leg to undertake the survey. Whilst doing this, we were able to use the current to our advantage to hold the ROV in station.

Utilising this technology allowed Inspectahire to survey the rig legs safely, without any of the risks and challenges involved with other methods, and in a cost efficient way. Safety is of paramount importance to everyone and particularly in the energy industry, and with this approach we were able to not put any individual at risk.