5 December 2022 press release
5 December 2022 – Ocean services provider DeepOcean and Akvaplan-niva signed an agreement to cooperate regarding the potential utilization of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and unmanned glider vehicles (USVs) to perform environmental studies for offshore wind and oil and gas developments.
Akvaplan-niva is a subsidiary of the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA). The company provides advisory services, research and development, and analytical services for all water related topics.
As part of the collaboration agreement, the two parties will work towards combining the field operations of DeepOcean’s autonomous vehicles – ROVs, USVs and autonomous inspection drones – with Akvaplan-niva’s environmental data collection services. The partnership also aims to utilise Akvaplan-niva’s unmanned autonomous glider vehicles commercially, for use in environmental studies.
Further, DeepOcean will share environmental data collected during the company’s ROV operations with Akvaplan-niva, for use by the wider research community.
By integrating environmental sensors with the vehicles, and streaming the data to a powerful cloud based processing system, the parties will investigate the opportunity to utilize ROVs, USVs, drones and gliders to perform ecosystem and environmental studies. The type of selected sensors allow harvesting physical, biogeochemical, chemical or biological data to get a high resolution understanding of the marine ecosystem structure and functioning in near real time.
“Both the offshore wind and offshore oil and gas industry could benefit from even more cost-efficient environmental assessment services. Combining sensor technology with unmanned and autonomous vessels could be one way of solving this. Compared to today’s solutions, this approach can substantially reduce use of fossil fuels and associated CO2 emissions,” says Andries Ferla, Ocean Solutions & Technology Director at DeepOcean.
“Today's advanced technology in robotics and digital solutions allow the convergence between subsea operations and environmental services. The advantages for customers are multiple, it will reduce costs, CO2 emmission and personell risk, and it will increase data resolution drastically," says Dr. Lionel Camus, Manager Digital Solutions at Akvaplan-niva.
From left: Lionel Camus (Manager Digital Solutions, Akvaplan-niva), Morten Thorstensen (Head of Field Infrastructure and Logistics, Akvaplan-niva), Nadia Aarab (Group Environmental Sustainability Lead, Deep Ocean), Andries Ferla (Ocean Solutions & Technology Director, Deep Ocean), Alexander Rumson (Technology Manager, Deep Ocean), Virginie Ramasco (Environmental Impact Scientist, Akvaplan-niva).
About DeepOcean
DeepOcean is a world-leading ocean services provider, enabling energy transition and sustainable use of ocean resources, offering survey, engineering, project management, installation, maintenance, and recycling services for oil and gas, offshore renewables, deep sea minerals, and other ocean services.
Across the global offices, DeepOcean is a trusted independent solutions provider with highly skilled industry experts, using world-class fit-for-purpose tools and technology to drive cost-efficient and safe operations. The company delivers innovative engineering solutions focusing on remote and unmanned operations and digitally-enabled services while continuously striving to lower the carbon footprint.
About Akvaplan-niva
Akvaplan-niva is a non profit research institute headquartered in Tromsø in the Fram – High North Research Centre for Climate and the Environment. Akvaplan-niva integrates research, decision support and technical innovation to secure economic value and safe environmental operations for businesses and authorities in all water related issues. We offer a range of practical and cost-effective solutions like pre-entry screenings, impact, vulnerability and risk assessments, environmental monitoring programs, contingency planning and operational decision support. Akvaplan-niva scientists use cutting edge technology such as autonomous robots, smart sensors and powerful cloud based processing systems to harvest and add value to data for customers.
Akvaplan-niva provide accredited laboratory services within chemistry, benthic fauna analysis and taxonomy (NA TEST 079). Our analysis and infrastructure services also include well-equipped research laboratories and a marine research and innovation station.
For further information, please contact:
Monika Niedbalska, Group Marketing & Communications Director, DeepOcean, mobile: +47 909 17 565, e-mail: mniedbalska@deepoceangroup.com
Trude Borch, Communication Officer, Akvaplan-niva, mobile +47 97965179, e-mail: tbo@akvaplan.niva.no
