UTEC NCS Survey Completes West African AUV Operations

UTEC NCS Survey, UK, has recently completed three months of AUV operations for a number of Saipem projects located in West Africa. Pre-lay and as-laid surveys were conducted using UTEC NCS Survey’s Teledyne Gavia AUV systems on the Mafumeira and Litchendjili fields, offshore Angola and Congo. Using one of seven GAVIA AUVs, an anchor pre-lay sidescan sonar survey was carried out in the Mafumeira field to clear the way for barge operations alongside the Mafumeira Norte Platform.

The versatility of working inside the 500m zone of the platform without affecting the platform operations was of particular value for this project.

Pipeline route and barge anchor corridor pre-lay surveys were carried out in Litchendjili in water depths of 3m to 12m utilising the Teledyne Gavia’s multibeam and sidescan sonar. The AUV was re-deployed to carry out post-lay operations along the pipeline corridor to inspect for free spans and other anomalies.