FEATURE: ROVs
THE WORKING LIFE OF A
PILOT Words: Penny Hitchin
Jamie Norman
...works for ROVOP, a fast growing Aberdeen-based business which provides ROV solutions for oil and gas and offshore wind. ROVOP specialises in operating in challenging subsea environments, including deep-sea and shallow water.
Jamie currently pilots one of ROVOP’s two new SAAB Sea eye Panther XT Plus light work class systems.
www.rovop.com
he smallest Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) used in the oil industry is the size of a one litre bottle. “It’s a bit like an endoscope – it can get into very small places” ROV pilot Jamie Norman explains.
T
Jamie usually pilots ‘eyeball’ class ROVs whose job is to observe and record. Bigger ROVs with sophisticated tools, which do high standard construction work underwater, belong to the ‘work’ class and can cost millions of pounds. The vehicle arms come with a range of functions, and the controls are so precise that Jamie says they can “comb hair” as well as carry out heavy duty operations.
The ROV is controlled by a pilot working in a container aboard a ship or offshore installation. On a purpose built ship it may be an enclosed area packed with electronic controls. “For my class of ROV it’s a container which is moved from job to job and installed on a ship or a rig. I’m currently working in a container that is 20 x 8 feet, but they can be as small as 10 x 8 feet for two or three people.”
Each time a ROV is commissioned to work from a new location, the container must be transported to the rig and lifted aboard before it can be set up. Jamie explains, “Set
22 Oil&GasCONNECT
up and launch time can be as little as an hour to get a basic eyeball ROV operating from a well set-up rig, doing a spud can survey (checking the legs on small jack up). But on a floating rig it can take two or three days to mobilise a work class ROV, as cable connections and welds have to be checked and certified.”
“It was a very exciting industry to be in and the work was very well paid,” said Jamie. On top of this he was learning a set of skills which would equip him for a long term career and enable him to pick and choose contracts working across the world.
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REMOTE OPERATED VEHICLE
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