Subsea7 has achieved a major advancement in its pioneering remote piloting technology offering, by fully operating a workclass ROV from Scotland to carry out operations 9,400km away off the coast of Brazil.

The success of the project has proven that the technology and capabilities developed by Subsea7, can perform key inspection repair and maintenance (IRM) tasks precisely and safely under remote control with the potential to increase operational flexibility.

“This was a major milestone for Subsea7,” said Alan Gray, ROV and Autonomy manager. “The maturity of our remote piloting systems has been demonstrated here and shows how new technologies alongside new ways of working, can lead to more sustainable operations. Subsea7 has deployed remote piloting systems on ROVs in the North Sea region, but this demonstration was our first remote piloting operation conducted for Brazil.”

The operations phase, which included pipeline inspection and light intervention tasks, was part of an ongoing contract to provide IRM services for Petrobras.  At the time of the remote operations, Petrobras stated: “This project is an example of our ongoing collaboration with Subsea7, with the successful remote piloting trials delivering a high quality of operations across a variety of IRM activities.”

The project involved a remote piloting upgrade of the workclass ROV system on board an ROV support vessel. Real-time remote control was achieved via a secure, high-speed, communications link to Subsea7’s Aberdeen Onshore Control Centre.  Subsea7 also has two onshore control centres in Stavanger, Norway.

This latest technology advancement is among several research and development activities Subsea7 is focusing on, which also include remote survey and inspection capabilities and sustainable ways of working.