3 min of reading

Saipem Signs Agreement With Shell and Petrobras Aiming to Utilize Its Submarine Drone FlatFish by Both Companies

Written by Roberta Souza

Published on 26/05/2022 at 22:45

Oil and Gas

Imagem de Fernando Frazão / Fonte: Agência Brasil

Be the first to react!

Saipem Submarine Drone Will Be Used by Shell and Petrobras for Monitoring Ultra-Deep Waters

Saipem – an Italian multinational providing services to oil fields – has signed a contract with Shell and Petrobras, which plan to use its FlatFish submarine drone in two pilot projects related to monitoring campaigns of two offshore ultra-deep water fields in Brazil, operated respectively by the two energy companies. The two projects with Shell and Petrobras are experimental and also included in the research and development program of the National Agency of Petroleum (ANP).

Additionally, its goal is to qualify the drone for conducting unmanned inspections and without vessels, in order to support monitoring and maintenance campaigns of underwater infrastructures. In particular, Saipem implemented the FlatFish drone during the industrialization period aimed at unlocking operations in deep waters – specifically for the contract with Shell and Petrobras, it involves over 2,000 meters of depth. From this perspective, the company needed to enhance its resources based on artificial intelligence, as well as those focused on navigation and monitoring.

The practices will be directed by Sonsub, Saipem’s center of excellence for underwater technologies and robotics, over a period of about 12 months. In the first phase, intermediate tests will be carried out in shallow waters at Saipem’s base in Trieste, Italy, with assistance from Sonsub’s engineering department in Brazil. During the second phase, the drone will be deployed in Brazilian waters, which is expected to occur in the third quarter of 2022.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

Contract Signed with Shell and Petrobras Confirms Saipem’s Efforts in Underwater Robotics Technological Development

According to Saipem, the contract with Shell – a company that ensures high investments in Brazil in 2022 – and Petrobras attests to the company’s motivation for technological development in underwater robotics and advanced automation, and constitutes an important pillar of its ongoing search for competitive and economical low-carbon alternatives, demonstrating Saipem’s commitment to sustainability.

The FlatFish consists of an autonomous underwater drone positioned on the seafloor, remotely controlled and capable of performing complex monitoring activities over an extensive range of underwater assets. In this context, Saipem has had the license to develop FlatFish technology since 2018 when it was entrusted to the company by Shell. The technology was previously developed by SENAI CIMATEC, a Brazilian research institute, in collaboration with DFKI, the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, and funded by the research and development program of ANP and EMBRAPII (Brazilian Company of Research and Innovation Industrial).

About the Italian Company

As stated on the company’s own website, Saipem is an advanced technological and engineering platform aimed at the design, construction, and operation of complex, safe, and sustainable plants and infrastructures. Moreover, the company is always oriented towards technological innovation, being today committed to assisting its clients at the forefront of the energy transition, with increasingly digital and environmentally sustainable assets, technologies, and processes.

Regarding offshore facilities, Saipem claims to be a leader in remote activities and deep waters. The company attributes its growth in the sector to its strategy of acquiring other excellent companies in the offshore segment, such as Bouygues, and also to the continuous technological innovation that enables it to develop fields on the seafloor at depths of over 3,000 meters, through its own underwater robotics.

Saipem Signs Agreement With Shell and Petrobras Aiming to Utilize Its Submarine Drone FlatFish by Both Companies

Saipem Submarine Drone Will Be Used by Shell and Petrobras for Monitoring Ultra-Deep Waters

Contract Signed with Shell and Petrobras Confirms Saipem’s Efforts in Underwater Robotics Technological Development

About the Italian Company

A village with 115 inhabitants wants new residents: it offers a house, a job, up to 44 thousand euros in benefits, almost free rent, an annual grant of 8 thousand euros for 3 years, and a 20 thousand euro incentive for businesses in the mountains of Italy.

Seven world powers including the US, China, and Russia are spending €22 billion on a reactor in the south of France that aims to confine plasma at 150 million degrees Celsius, ten times the temperature of the Sun’s core, using a magnetic field capable of lifting an entire aircraft carrier.

With a wingspan of 152 meters, 76 tires, and a capacity to carry 1,270 tons, the Boeing Pelican was the giant “flying ship” that promised to cross oceans close to the water on an invisible air cushion beneath its wings.

Elon Musk’s internet comes to mobile: Starlink technology connects smartphones without an antenna via satellite, works even without carrier signal, already costs just US$10 extra in the US, and could arrive in Brazil as an included benefit.

While countries spend billions to draw water from the sea, a Nobel-winning scientist creates a container-sized machine that extracts up to 1,000 liters per day from dry air and uses ultrasound to release water in minutes, even in the middle of the desert.

After 16 years and almost 600 prototypes, a Chinese inventor unveils the world’s smallest and cheapest manned jet, at just 3.80 meters long and costing US$7.2 thousand in materials.

Belgium will sink 23 giant concrete caissons, each weighing 22,000 tons, in the North Sea to build the world’s first artificial energy island 45 km off the coast, forming offshore electrical walls.

Tanquã: the gigantic flooded area created by a dam on the Tietê River that became São Paulo’s “mini-Pantanal”, grew larger than Paris and today attracts tourists with 435 animal species and 361 plant species.

Instead of spending months building walls directly on the site, Nestron sells compact prefabricated homes that arrive with a bed, sofa, equipped kitchen, full bathroom, smart system, and are ready for immediate occupancy in a small footprint.

A medieval French village defies gravity with houses embedded in the gigantic limestone cliff, a 216-step staircase, and sanctuaries carved into the rock itself.

Outdoor lights pointed at the sky are starting to be banned in countries like France, Germany, and Chile to reduce light pollution, protect sleep, and restore nighttime darkness.

Without last-minute notice, without an improvised detour, and without an alternative that seems faster at certain times, drivers who need to cross one of the main federal highways in Extremo-Oeste catarinense will need to keep extra patience in their cars for the next few weeks.

Saipem Signs Agreement With Shell and Petrobras Aiming to Utilize Its Submarine Drone FlatFish by Both Companies

Saipem Submarine Drone Will Be Used by Shell and Petrobras for Monitoring Ultra-Deep Waters

Contract Signed with Shell and Petrobras Confirms Saipem’s Efforts in Underwater Robotics Technological Development

About the Italian Company

A village with 115 inhabitants wants new residents: it offers a house, a job, up to 44 thousand euros in benefits, almost free rent, an annual grant of 8 thousand euros for 3 years, and a 20 thousand euro incentive for businesses in the mountains of Italy.

Seven world powers including the US, China, and Russia are spending €22 billion on a reactor in the south of France that aims to confine plasma at 150 million degrees Celsius, ten times the temperature of the Sun’s core, using a magnetic field capable of lifting an entire aircraft carrier.

With a wingspan of 152 meters, 76 tires, and a capacity to carry 1,270 tons, the Boeing Pelican was the giant “flying ship” that promised to cross oceans close to the water on an invisible air cushion beneath its wings.

Elon Musk’s internet comes to mobile: Starlink technology connects smartphones without an antenna via satellite, works even without carrier signal, already costs just US$10 extra in the US, and could arrive in Brazil as an included benefit.

While countries spend billions to draw water from the sea, a Nobel-winning scientist creates a container-sized machine that extracts up to 1,000 liters per day from dry air and uses ultrasound to release water in minutes, even in the middle of the desert.

After 16 years and almost 600 prototypes, a Chinese inventor unveils the world’s smallest and cheapest manned jet, at just 3.80 meters long and costing US$7.2 thousand in materials.

Belgium will sink 23 giant concrete caissons, each weighing 22,000 tons, in the North Sea to build the world’s first artificial energy island 45 km off the coast, forming offshore electrical walls.

Global oil market loses 1 billion barrels and energy tension increases risk of new global crisis, warns Aramco

A 45 km² oil slick appears in satellite images near Kharg Island, an area that accounts for 90% of Iran’s oil exports.

While Petrobras operates at 7,000 meters in the pre-salt layer, China is extracting oil and gas at 10,910 meters onshore — Shenditake 1 is the world’s first onshore well to exceed 10 km.

Brazil discovers natural hydrogen in four states and enters the silent race that could redraw the energy transition: Petrobras has already invested R$ 20 million in studies.

Trump promises transparency in Venezuela’s oil, but secret deals and corruption allegations continue to surround the billion-dollar sector.

Tanquã: the gigantic flooded area created by a dam on the Tietê River that became São Paulo’s “mini-Pantanal”, grew larger than Paris and today attracts tourists with 435 animal species and 361 plant species.

Instead of spending months building walls directly on the site, Nestron sells compact prefabricated homes that arrive with a bed, sofa, equipped kitchen, full bathroom, smart system, and are ready for immediate occupancy in a small footprint.

A medieval French village defies gravity with houses embedded in the gigantic limestone cliff, a 216-step staircase, and sanctuaries carved into the rock itself.

Outdoor lights pointed at the sky are starting to be banned in countries like France, Germany, and Chile to reduce light pollution, protect sleep, and restore nighttime darkness.

Without last-minute notice, without an improvised detour, and without an alternative that seems faster at certain times, drivers who need to cross one of the main federal highways in Extremo-Oeste catarinense will need to keep extra patience in their cars for the next few weeks.