Eni Debuts ‘Clean Sea’ Technology
Eni’s Clean Sea technology: from research laboratories to industrial application in the Mediterranean and West Africa.
Clean Sea, proprietary technology designed by Eni's research laboratories, will be used for the first time for marine environmental monitoring and offshore asset inspection in the Mediterranean region and West Africa.
Clean Sea is the result of one of Eni’s most recent research and development projects, focusing on environmental characterization and protection. Clean Sea aims to ensure improved marine environmental protection by enhancing the quality and quantity of monitored data, and as it can be operated from conventional supply vessels, it offers a cost-effective option with respect to conventional monitoring technologies, Eni said. Clean Sea can be used in marine environments whenever accurate inspection and monitoring of water quality is required, extending its application beyond the oil and gas industry.
Clean Sea, a technology that has been successfully tested in many marine environments, is an advanced underwater vehicle characterized by multi-tasking interchangeable sensors optimized in a single integrated assembly, rather than several dedicated tools. In addition, Clean Sea has the capability to change its mission strategy in real time, as a function of sensor response, optimizing monitoring duration and minimizing cost.
Clean Sea can be operated in either autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) or surface controlled remotely operated vehicles (ROV) mode and is therefore more versatile than ROV based technologies.
Eni will establish two logistics bases, one in Angola for West Africa and the other in Sicily for the Mediterranean region, with a dedicated operative team to cover worldwide routine activity.
In the Mediterranean basin, Clean Sea will be operated by Enimed in Gela. Starting from the first quarter of 2016, two teams will be in charge of the maintenance and operation of the vehicle to provide underwater support services across the Mediterranean Sea. Planned operations include routine sealine inspections and seabed and seawater samplings for environmental monitoring.