The old rivalry between ROV pilots and divers appears to be breaking down, as both sides recognize the considerable benefits of working together. Russell McCulley referees.
'When I started, it was taboo to even get near an ROV,' says Michael Johnson, a veteran diver who now serves as bids and proposals manager for Oceaneering's diving division. ‘But since then, a lot of eyes have been opened. There are a lot of jobs out there in the Gulf of Mexico, especially after the hurricanes, that you couldn't do without an ROV.' Divers have embraced ROVs for their ability to function as remote hydraulic units for powering subsea tools, Johnson says, as well as the enhanced safety that comes with working alongside an extra set of eyes.
During subsea operations, ‘the ROV can sit there and give you an overview of the worksite,' he says. ‘You can see if there are dangers the diver might not be able to see.' Equipped with imaging sonar, ROVs can ‘see' through murky, muddy water and detect potential hazards for divers. And they are frequently sent in ahead of diving operations to perform initial cutting tasks, especially during salvage operations.
Later this quarter, Oceaneering expects to take delivery of two new US-flagged vessels, equipped with or capable of hosting ROVs, that have been designed for inspection, repair and maintenance, offshore construction and pipeline support. The newbuild Ocean Project, a 200ft by 46ft dive support vessel, will replace an aging 185ft Oceaneering DSV bearing the same name. The Ocean Project will feature a four-point mooring system, baffled moonpool plus 40t crane and will be capable of carrying an ROV system on the 3000ft2 deck.
The Ocean Patriot, a converted and renamed 240ft DP2 vessel built in 2002, will have a permanent 12-person saturation diving system, a 40t knuckle boom crane, accommodations for 52 and a resident work-class ROV system. Like the Ocean Project, the converted vessel will have a baffled moonpool allowing divers to work in rougher seas.
Both Patriot and Project will be marketed in the Gulf of Mexico for IRM, construction, hurricane remediation work and pipeline and platform abandonment projects, as federal regulators step up efforts to clear ‘idle iron' from the Gulf Coast shelf, Johnson says. The ROV ‘is another tool in our toolbox, a value-added service,' he adds. ‘It is going to be standard kit for the Patriot.'
For divers, Johnson says, working in tandem with ROVs ‘has increased our safety exponentially, and you can tie that directly to productivity. It's made it a lot more cost-effective for the client.
‘It makes so much sense to use an ROV – to have a subsea hydraulic unit right there, to use it to go in and chop stuff up and get it out of the way, and to do survey runs. They're worth their weight in gold,' he says, before catching himself. ‘Don't say I said that,' Johnson adds, remembering the ongoing diver-ROV pilot competition. ‘I'll never hear the end of it!' OE