Subsea Intervention & Survey

Oceanica, the long established Brazilian subsea engineering company, has ordered two Saab Seaeye Falcon ROVs for its expanding operations with Petrobras.

The Falcon’s respected reputation in Brazil was a decider for Oceanica, says head of ROV operations, Manoel Teixeira Lopes Filho.

For him, the Falcon’s world-proven reliability and performance was a vital factor.

Both ROVs will be deployed in general inspection work in shallow water and the company is currently building two Shallow Dive Support Vessels, with a third planned for engineering projects.

Oceanica was founded in 1978 and is now a key subsea engineering company for Brazil’s oil industry with long experience in the installation and maintenance of underwater structures.

The company’s range of operations will benefit from the easily manhandled Falcon, which although small, has five powerful thrusters for precise manoeuvrability and holding the ROV steady in strong cross-currents.

Distributed intelligence is key to the Falcon’s success with each device on the vehicle having its own individually controlled microprocessor.

The concept allows systems to be easily added or changed with plug-and-go simplicity that connects multiple modules together through a single RS485 network.

The intelligent, module-focussed concept also generates automatic diagnostics on power-up to ensure that each device is fully interfaced and working correctly, greatly simplifying maintenance.

Oceanica’s experience shows that Brazil’s vast oil fields demand intelligent, multi-functional ROVs that are easy to operate and maintain, and will work reliably in demanding conditions.