Teledyne: Custom ROV for Saudi Aramco

Teledyne Marine and Research Products Development Company (RPDC) have agreed to collaborate on global commercialization of new technologies developed within Saudi Arabia.

“We are pleased to have entered into this cooperation agreement with RPDC,” said Mike Read, President of Teledyne Marine. “It formalizes our support of new technology and collaboration in the offshore oil industry with the belief that it will facilitate new and innovative solutions.”

A first success under this agreement is the award of a development contract, which will integrate a unique sensor design developed by Saudi Aramco. Under a Memorandum of Understanding signed today at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston, a special sensor will enable Teledyne’s SeaBotix remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) to perform shallow water pipeline inspection and monitoring.

Teledyne SeaBotix’ Shallow Water Inspection and Monitoring Robot (SWIM-R) is based on a modified vLBV300 ROV that is designed to perform underwater inspection tasks in shallow water environments up to 100 meters. The system consists of a specially modified vLBV300 with manipulating arm and dual measurement sensor (cathodic protection probe (CP) and thickness probe (UT)), an ultra-cavitation spot cleaner, automated navigation package and tracked crawler.

“We are excited about collaborating with Teledyne SeaBotix, in developing an advanced technology that will address the challenges posed by shallow water pipeline inspection monitoring,” said Ahmad Al-Khowaiter, Chief Technology Officer at Saudi Aramco. “The technology will substantially reduce underwater infrastructure inspection costs.”

The integrated sensor can perform both ultrasonic thickness readings and cathodic protection voltage measurements at a single touchdown reducing inspection costs for shallow water pipelines, minimize inspection safety hazards and enable the inspection of hard-to-reach sections.

“We are pleased to work with Saudi Aramco and RPDC in providing groundbreaking robotic inspection capabilities that enable safer and more efficient shallow water pipeline inspection,” said Grace DeForest, Director of Global Business Development for Teledyne Marine.  

These advancements in small ROV capabilities for shallow water inspection were first developed within Saudi Aramco by members of the Network Integrity Team within the Research & Development Center. Collaboration with Teledyne has provided improvements in reliability and opportunities for global commercialization of these capabilities on an inspection-class ROV.