OceanWorks (News - Alert) said that it has delivered a mechanical positioning system to Canada based PanGeo Subsea, a technology service provider to the offshore oil and gas industry.

 

PanGeo Subsea specializes in acoustic 3D sub-bottom imaging techniques for risk mitigation in offshore exploration and development. Earlier in January, the company had awarded a contract to OceanWorks to design and build their first Acoustic Corer.

 

The high-definition acoustic imaging tools for the oil and gas industry provide real-time, three-dimensional images of the seabed – allowing companies to detect “geohazards” before work begins on the ocean floor.

 

Combined with PanGeo’s acoustic imaging technology, it can detect and locate buried pipelines or “geohazards” such as large boulders.

 

OceanWorks officials said that the system can be transported, launched, and recovered in a folded configuration. Using a hydraulic power unit, the arms and legs are extended as it nears the seabed. 

 

The system can be deployed in up to 600 meters of water from a typical oilfield support vessel. Officials said once the system is deployed, it has a survey area of 12m in diameter, and produces a 3D acoustic image to a typical depth of 20m.

 

A custom, direct drive motor is used for boom rotation and belt drives are used for positioning payloads along the booms. Officials said that this allows the PanGeo acoustic packages to be positioned over the seabed in a 10 cm sampling grid.

 

OceanWorks scope of supply includes the design and manufacture of the structure, mechanical systems, hydraulic and telemetry systems, fabrication, assembly and test.

 

In May, the comapny also introduced two subsea tooling products for deepwater operations, the TORNADO TRO Subsea Torque Tool and the TORNADO TVT Subsea Torque Verification Tool.