An industry veteran with more than 35 years experience, Martin McDonald is Oceaneering’s Senior Vice President for ROV. He shares with Marine Technology Reporter (MTR) his insights on the historical development and the future prospects of this high-profile subsea sector.
Well decommissioning is traditionally performed from drilling rigs due to the complexity of operations and the available methods such as risers, divers, and explosives. However, rigs are expensive to operate compared to vessels, and don’t have the flexibility that vessels have to change locations on short notice.
As companies develop inspection tools for deployment in deeper water, considerable effort is invested in eliminating impediments that could compromise performance and meet the challenge of deepwater pipeline inspections.
Robotic systems are moving closer toward being able to “live” in subsea docking stations, as permanently installed subsea resident vehicles.
