A Projected Offshore Service Operation With Submarine Work Boats
Authors: Bodey Charles E. , Burnap Clement F. , Mohlman J. William 
Published: December 2007

This paper was prepared for the 41st Annual Fall Meeting of the Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME, to be held in Dallas, Tex., Oct. 2–5, 1966. Permission to copy is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words. Illustrations may not be copied. The abstract should contain conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper is presented. Publication elsewhere after publication in the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is usually granted upon request to the Editor of the appropriate journal provided agreement to give proper credit is made.

Discussion of this paper is invited. Three copies of any discussion should be sent to the Society of Petroleum Engineers office. Such discussion may be presented at the above meeting and, with the paper, may be considered for publication in one of the two SPE magazines.

The paper describes tie program being conducted by Ocean Systems Operations of North American Aviation, Inc. to develop a submarine work boat for offshore oil operations in waters beyond practical diver working depths. A model oil field is used to illustrate the role of the submarine in pipeline inspection, anode replacement, connector hookup, and wellhead re-entry. Other applications are listed and general problems of undersea operations are discussed.

A test program is outlined under which companies in the offshore oil and service industries would join the manufacturer in testing specific submarine applications and exploring new ones for the benefit of all participants. Finally, several alternatives are described for making the production submarine available to the industry on a charter basis through a service company.

Introduction

ocean Systems Operations of North American Aviation, Inc., has been assisted by the major oil companies, service, and tool companies in developing a concept and implementing a plan for a projected offshore service to operate manned submarine work boats. This effort began several years ago when NAA foresaw that it would soon be mandatory that man work at extreme ocean depths. The concept of the manned submarine work boat was envisioned as one solution to the problem. The offshore industry confirmed the need and suggested tasks that might develop as requirements. Based on this initial show of interest, NAA has progressed to a point where experimental work of mutual interest now can be undertaken.

A remote manipulator system, complete with controls, optics, and with tools and tool exchange capability has been developed in the last three years and has been utilized in research on subsea oil equipment as well as on similar Navy requirements in connection with search, rescue, and salvage missions. Under Navy contract, a year-long study recently was completed. The study analyzed the integration of these manipulators and controls as they relate to the control and operation of five Navy submarines: the Trieste II, Alvin II, the Nuclear Research Boat (NR-1), the Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle (DSRV) and Search Vehicle (DSSV).