MUNIN - a surface independent ROV system

Here we propose a pre-project to establish a conceptual and organisational basis for a Petromaks project, a project for the development of the so called MUNIN concept. MUNIN is our name for a new concept that exploits remotely operated and autonomous veh icle technology (ROV and AUV) in a way that will significantly reduce the operation cost of subsea production systems and increase their regularity, thus contributing to increased oil recovery (IOR). MUNIN is a response to the authority?s goal of increa sing recovery of oil from subsea developed fields; average recovery is low, currently around 40%. Also, it is a technology that is well suited to arctic conditions as it is surface independent. The main objective of the project line is to bring forward new intervention and inspection technologies and develop them into systems that may be permanently stationed at subsea production facilities. The core of this concept will be to combine the intervention capabilities of ROVs with the survey capabilities of AUVs into a hybrid ROV/AUV- system that is parked subsea. Such a system, operated from a field centre, represents advantages as follows: - All year availability, as operations are independent of weather and supporting ships; - Better preparedness with r espect to incidents as the system is stationed subsea; - Better data of the actual state of production equipment makes planning of future maintenance easier and reduces the risk of unforeseen incidents to occur; - Higher regularity of subsea fields, by be ing able to intervene within hours instead of days; - Reduced OPEX, as operation does not require a costly surface ship. The concept will be easily adapted both as a retrofit to existing subsea fields as well as to new field developments. The ambition o f our consortium is to bring technology forward to a state where the MUNIN concept may be demonstrated on a pilot installation, where after the technology may be commercialized.