hydrographic survEy 17
(shelf break) requiring the design and construction of The efficient and reliable progress achieved during
long subsea pipelines to deliver the gas back to the coast the route survey allowed for further site survey work
for processing and export. The new subsea pipelines in the field to investigate the suitability of the shallow
can either tie back to the existing LNG plants, or the oil geology for the planned seabed infrastructure. The
and gas companies can incorporate the design of new objectives of the field work required the acquisition of
processing facilities as part of their proposals. Because sub-bottom profiler data in increased water depth while
of the large investment commitment these development achieving approximately 150m sub-seabed acoustic
projects pose for oil and gas penetration. During this phase
companies, the aim is to of the survey, the Applied
mitigate the potential of Acoustics’ Squid 2000 was
damaging their assets both teamed to the CSP-D 2400.
during installation and once The CSP-D 2400 charged at
they are installed on the 1500 joules per 1.5 seconds
seabed. Part of this involves for a continuous three week
contracting hydrographic duration, with no equipment
survey companies to map downtime, and assisted
the proposed subsea pipeline in acquiring good quality
routes to avoid potential sparker data to the required
pipeline instability and depths and the client’s
damage. objectives.
One such company Fig. 3. Both Boomers (to 300J) and Sparkers (to Due to the success of the
specialising in this work is 2400J) can be supplied by a single CSP-D energy survey campaign, Neptune
Neptune Marine Services source from Applied Acoustics. Geomatics will continue to
based in Belmont, Western use the proven and reliable
Australia. Neptune Marine Services is established as one sub-bottom profiler equipment provided by Applied
of Australia’s leading providers of integrated engineered Acoustics Engineering to meet its client’s objectives.
solutions to the international oil and gas, marine and Easily installed and operated, the CSP-D 2400 energy
renewable energy industries. Neptune Geomatics, a sources generate a safe energy supply. In the two years
subsidiary of Neptune Marine, is a hydrographic survey since purchasing the units, Neptune Geomatics has
company specialising in MODU positioning, geophysical enjoyed repeatable, reliable energy outputs to towed
site surveys, pipeline route and cable route surveys and boomer and sparker sound sources and remains confident
offshore construction positioning support services. moving forward with the technology into the future. l
In 2008, Neptune Geomatics was awarded a contract
to survey a proposed 870km subsea gas pipeline route Enter 17 or ✔ at www.engineerlive.com/ihss
traversing both the Browse and Bonaparte Basins and
terminating in Darwin Harbour. The pipeline is designed Patrick Fournier is the Senior Geophysicist with Neptune
to deliver gas to a new processing facility in Darwin. The Marine Services, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
remoteness and duration of the proposed survey work, www.neptunems.com Applied Acoustics Engineering Ltd is
coupled with the tight reporting deadlines to tie in with based in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, UK.
the front-end engineering design (FEED) of the project, www.appliedacosutics.com
required reliable and proven survey equipment
to be used during the campaign.
The objectives of the survey were to
obtain reliable sub-bottom profiling data
to accurately map the shallow geology in
the survey area of >5000 line km through
which the proposed route would run. The
Applied Acoustics’ Sub-bottom Profiler, the
CSP-D 2400 was the preferred energy source
to power the Applied Acoustics’ AA301
Boomer for the duration of the survey. The
CSP-D 2400 charged at 1000 joules/second
for a continuous two month period, with
no equipment faults. This proved to be a
significant advantage during the survey as
it provided the survey crew and pipeline
engineers with good quality data to assist
pipeline route planning and design. Fig. 4. Boomer data example.
www.engineerlive.com
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