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Seabed deformation monitoring

Developed over more than a decade and in use globally by the energy sector, our ‘game-changing’ seabed deformation monitoring technologies offer critical new understanding of seafloor movement and its impact on reservoirs and installed structures.

What our tech can do for you

10 Years

Long-term unattended deployment and monitoring of the seabed

USV or AUV

Remote data acquisition for safer, greener survey operations

9,000 bps

Fast and robust communications performance

6000 m

Working depth, perfect for deepwater operations

Reservoir management

The easiest way to find new oil and gas is to look near where it already is – so the saying goes. Proactive management of existing reservoirs to maximize recovery is a profitable way to get more product out of the ground without significantly adding to your carbon footprint or costs.

But, improved oil or gas recovery schemes can result in geo-hazards, such as seabed fractures, deformation or subsidence. Accurately monitoring seabed movement, which can amount to several centimetres per year, gives operators insight into how their reservoirs are performing when combined with a knowledge of the physical reservoir structure. Seafloor deformation monitoring during drilling and production activity can also help you to avoid geohazards, such as fault reactivation and mud slips.

Supply. Install. Harvest. Process

From array design to deployment support, data harvesting and processing, we can provide you with a full seafloor deformation monitoring service.

Our Fetch pressure monitoring transponder (PMT) instruments are subsea sensor logging nodes that measure long-duration seafloor movement, laterally and vertically. Fetch PMTs can take hundreds of thousands of highly precise, stable geodetic observations over long periods of time; safely log the data to internal memory; and, on command, wirelessly transmit it up to the surface. They can also be positioned within a global reference frame using GPS-Acoustic (GPS-A) box-in, a tried-and-test technique that’s widely used in ocean research that we have significantly refined.

With the addition of our in-situ pressure sensor calibration capability, Ambient-Zero-Ambient (AZA), we address the inherent drift that pressure sensors experience over time. That means our instruments can remain on the seabed, and generate accurate data, for up to 10 years – without any need for periodic retrieval for recalibration.

Remote data acquisition

During the period of instrument deployment, we can gather and transmit logged data to your desktop wirelessly, using our sixth generation (Sonardyne 6G®) acoustic communications platform onboard our partners’ proven unmanned surface vessel (USV) or autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) platforms. We can also perform the data processing, so you can obtain actionable information at your fingertips, when you need it, without ever leaving the office.

The result – reliable subsidence data, alongside other production and seismic data, with which you can proactively manage your reservoirs.

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