VESSEL REVIEW | Work-class ROVs to perform oilfield support duties in Brazil

UK-based Forum Energy Technologies (FET) has delivered two medium-sized work-class remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) in a series to Brazilian marine engineering company Oceanica Engenharia e Consultoria to support its deepwater intervention operations and enhance its service offerings for the Brazilian energy sector.

The systems were manufactured at FET’s facility at Kirkbymoorside, North Yorkshire and delivered in the first half of 2022. Both ROVs and their associated systems are designed to operate even in challenging subsea environments.

Each ROV has a length of 2.8 metres, a beam of 1.7 metres, a height of 1.9 metres, a displacement of 4,200 kilograms, and four horizontal and three vertical 300mm thrusters to facilitate movement in the water. When moving forward, the ROVs can reach a maximum speed of 3.5 knots while lateral and vertical movement will yield speeds of up to 2.8 and three knots, respectively.

The 3,000-metre-rated, compact 149kW ROVs each have high payload capacity to allow the carriage of up to 200 kilograms of additional tools and sensors. Standard equipment on each craft includes six individually dimmable lights, a heading, pitch and roll sensor, a depth sensor, a seven-function manipulator arm, a five-function grabber arm, an RF beacon, an obstacle avoidance sonar, and an emergency xenon flasher. The suite of a maximum of eight cameras includes low-light black and white as well as colour cameras.

The associated systems also include active heave compensated launch and recovery systems (LARS) while control of each ROV is through an ergonomic pilot/co-pilot console that combines touchscreen and physical switch control interfaces. The real-time feed from the cameras and other sensors are viewed on a large video wall of HD LCD monitors.

The complete FET ROV systems will be utilised by Oceanica to support inspection, repair, and maintenance services in Petrobras’ oil fields. FET said these deliveries marked the first time that the Rio De Janeiro-based company added a work-class ROV to its fleet in its 40-year history.

The two ROVs are the second and third work-class ROVs that were supplied by FET to Oceanica after a larger, heavy duty ROV handed over in 2020.

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