Sonardyne lands Guará-Lula NE contract

Equipment & Technology - October 17, 2012

Sonardyne International Ltd has been awarded a contract for the supply of 6G subsea acoustic positioning technology for the Guará-Lula NE oilfield development offshore Brazil.

The order was placed by marine equipment rental company Seatronics, who are hiring the equipment to Subsea 7, the company responsible for the engineering, procurement, installation and commissioning (EPIC) phases of the project.

Guará and Lula NE are part of the pre-salt giant discoveries operated by Petrobras in the Santos basin, Brazil, in ultra-deep water depths of in excess of 2,100m, 300km offshore. Subsea 7’s project scope includes the EPIC phases of two ‘uncoupled’ riser systems featuring large submerged buoys supporting 27 steel catenary risers.

The equipment Subsea 7 is renting for the positioning of subsea structures and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) includes multi-functional Compatt 6 transponders, ROVNav 6 LBL transceivers and the latest addition to the 6G product range, iWand. A hand-held transponder test and configuration device, iWand enables large batches of transponders to be quickly set up and tested in the workshop or on the back-deck before they are deployed.

Sonardyne’s Survey Support Group has also been working closely with surveyors from Subsea 7 to determine the optimum number of Compatts to deploy and the maximum range apart at which they can be placed to ensure the stringent positioning tolerances are achieved. Subsea 7 will also benefit from the multi-user mode of the Compatts, enabling the use of multiple ROVs and vessels operating in both LBL and USBL mode simultaneously.

“Seatronics has been a long-term investor in Sonardyne technology and this contract is the second significant order placed by the company for 6G this year,” said Barry Cairns, vice president, Europe & Africa at Sonardyne.