Part 1: What is Subsea Inspection?

Underwater/subsea inspection is part of offshore Oil and Gas industry under the upstream segment. As the name implies, it is about inspecting the underwater part of the oil and gas structures located offshore such as platform, pipeline, FSO/FPSO, buoy mooring and deepwater facilities. The area submerged below the sea surface which can be magical and perilous at the same time.  

Underwater inspection is one of the components under Subsea IRM’s trident. IRM stands for Inspection, Repair and Maintenance. Some calls it as IMR which is also correct, it is just how you want to arrange the alphabet. While underwater inspection can be done independently without any repair or maintenance work, the need to record data for repair and maintenance work would almost certain require inspection task to be involved as well.  

Subsea IRM/IMR may not be widely known to people outside the industry compared to FEED, EPCIC and T&I but it is an integral part in the lifecycle of an offshore structure. To make it more important as the structures are located underwater – you cannot just simply walk and have a look like walking on topside of a platform. It requires specialized personnel from various disciplines such as diving team, ROV team, the vessel crew onboard a Dynamic Positioning (DP) vessel, surveyor team and the 3.4U inspection team. That is on top of specific equipment and methodology to perform subsea operations.  

After installation of the offshore structures, let’s say a platform, at certain interval that can range from yearly to once every few years, the platform owner would want to know its current condition and answer to many questions - Is it safe to continue using the platform? Is there any damage that needs attention for repair? Is the periodic maintenance have been done? Offshore platforms are built to last from just a few years to 30 years or more so inspection work shall need to be perform throughout its lifetime to satisfy those various questions.

It is like owning a car. You want to check your car from time to time to ensure that it is safe to drive and shall be performing as expected. You shall check the engine oil level, the radiator coolant, the brakes, the pressure of all tyres, among others – that’s inspection. If there is anything faulty, you get it fixed – that’s repair. When it is time to change the engine oil or oil filter, you get it done – that’s maintenance.  You do all this; your car should be in good condition and safe to drive for many years to come.

In general, there are several phases of major IRM throughout the life of an offshore structure. From the day it is installed until the day it is decommissioned or removed. For that shall be in the next part of the series.