Caspian Energy (CE): What could you tell about Fugro’s contribution to development of energy technologies applied worldwide?

Chris Mott, General Manager, Fugro Survey Ltd (Caspian): Fugro operates in two divisions. We have a survey division and a geotechnical division. The survey division harnesses a variety of technologies to do its work which is to make investigations of the earth’s atmosphere, the earth on land, the sea and the earth under the seas. We use the USA GPS satellites for positioning and also use the Russian GLONASS satellites for positioning. We use geophysical and geotechnical techniques to image the earth for engineering purposes so that foundations can be properly designed and structures can be safely and efficiently installed on the earth, not only on dry land but also the seabed. Geophysical techniques rely up on indirect methods, such as sound, gravity, radar and magnetics to infer the properties of the earth. Geotechnical techniques require actual samples of the earth to be taken and analyzed in laboratories or in situ.

CE: Of all that technology and techniques that Fugro applies worldwide, are there those that the company plans to use in the Caspian region?

Chris Mott: A specific example is the use of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). We will soon be carrying out a seabed survey for an oil company offshore the Caspian Sea. To carry out that work we will import an AUV which is a very sophisticated Autonomous Underwater Vehicle that is deployed in the sea ready-programmed to survey on specifically pre-calculated survey lines. The AUV keeps the sensors that it is using to obtain data at precise distances from the seabed to get the best data we possibly can in the geologically complex and hazardous area of the Caspian Sea. This system is coming into Azerbaijan next month. It will be doing its work for several months. The AUV is a vehicle that is used for carrying geophysical instruments. These are: a) a camera that takes photographs of the seabed as it goes along; b) Multi-beam Echo Sounder to measure the shape and depth of the seabed as it rises and where it falls; c) Side Scan Sonar system which uses high frequency sound to detect objects on the seabed; d) Sub-bottom profiler which uses a lower frequency sound source to depict the depths, thicknesses and orientation of the soil and rock layers beneath the seabed.

We will be bringing in other new technologies to Azerbaijan later this year for a geotechnical sampling survey in some of the deepest water in Azerbaijan. Traditionally this has been done by installing a drilling rig on a ship and drilling into the seabed using a steel drill string which connects the ship to the seabed. However, in this case, the water is so deep that the required length of drill string is too heavy for the drilling rig to handle. However, it is essential that the engineering properties of the seabed are known. The solution is to bring in a seafloor drill that is lowered from the ship to the seabed on a wire, which is much lighter than the drill string. All drilling and sampling activities will be carried out remotely by the seafloor drill, operations are controlled from the support vessel by technicians via optic fiber commands sent down the deployment wire. All though not required for this project, the seafloor drill is capable of being used in water depths of 4000 meters. The system can drill into the seabed to a depth of 150 meters and obtain high quality soil samples from the borehole. It will also measure some soil properties directly from the borehole. In doing this remote work, a number of patented technologies will be used which are obviously unique.

CE: How precise is the information provided by geophysical and geotechnical equipment? 

Chris Mott: It is as precise as the world’s leading technology can make it. For example, our positioning system uses GPS satellites. We can deploy our survey ships anywhere in the world, and measure where the antenna of the ship is to better than one meter. The accuracy of our positioning is due to our ability to know, at any moment, where each satellite is in the sky and to be able to measure the time it takes for their signals, travelling at the speed of light, to reach the antenna.

CE: Possessing this information, does the company plan to renew the chart of the bed of the Caspian Sea? Is this technology currently used in the Caspian Sea?

Chris Mott: Not in a general sense. We don’t go out there and map the whole of the Caspian Sea. We are hired by our clients to go and map specific areas of the sea that are going to be occupied by future developments. Charting the sea in a general sense tends to be the responsibility of sovereign states and the navies of those sovereign states. Commercial organizations can do it and they are sometimes used to provide input to boundary discussions under the United Nations Commission on the Law of the Sea.

We have the technology to survey the seabed to the highest accuracies prescribed by the International Hydrography Organization.

CE: In which projects is the company currently involved in?

Chris Mott: I think it is safe to say that we have been involved in the development of all of Azerbaijan’s offshore oil-gas fields operated by international oil companies and we hope to continue our involvement.

CE: Could you provide more elaborate information about underwater devices used in the Caspian Sea? 

Chris Mott: I think you are referring to what the industry calls remotely operated vehicles. They are known as ROV’s and they are launched from the ship into the sea. They remain connected to the ship via a strong umbilical cable. It delivers power to the vehicle so that it can move, its lights can come on and it can be maneuvered. It also has signal cables that carry data from the ship to the ROV and from ROV back to the ship. We currently have three of these systems in Azerbaijan. They are assisting the companies which are installing pipelines on the seabed of the Caspian Sea at the moment. 

CE: Which other non-oil sector related services and equipment may Fugro provide to Azerbaijan? 

Chris Mott: It is appropriate to say that most technologies that we use in the oil-gas sector are also appropriate to be used in other sectors. Anywhere where man is exploiting the sea, building things on it or tunnels underneath it, or maybe installing wind electricity generators. The same sort of information is needed whatever you are installing on the seabed.

CE: Are there technologies that Fugro does possess but has not applied in Azerbaijan so far? 

Chris Mott: Yes, within the two divisions that Fugro is operating in we have a subdivision that deals with environmental issues. And we have technologies that can measure the degree of pollution of land. 

CE: How would you evaluate the activity of the company since the beginning of the year? 

Chris Mott: At the end of 2012 we prepared a plan of how we thought the company would do in 2013. We have just finished reporting on the first quarter of 2013 and the figures show that our performance in the first quarter of 2013 has been very close to the performance that we predicted at the end of 2012. Hopefully this will continue.

CE: How would you assess the development of the oil-gas infrastructure of Azerbaijan? 

Chris Mott: I think what is happening is that Azerbaijan is very quickly developing its own infrastructure not only in terms of buildings, road and healthcare but also in providing its own offshore capability, such as the construction of a shipyard in order to build its own ships. We hear people talk about these developments at the meetings of the Caspian-European Integration Business Club. The Caspian Sea is an enclosed body of water which means it is very difficult to get large pieces of equipment into the Caspian Sea such as vessels and drilling rigs because they have to come through the Russian canal systems. It is a very expensive and time consuming business. It is my understanding that, in the future, it is the intention to build most of these things in the Caspian Sea rather than bringing them in from outside. In the medium term this will provide more significant resources to people developing offshore oil-gas projects and the speed of development will be accelerated. This will, in its turn, also contribute to the self-sufficiency of Azerbaijan and its ability to export energy to other countries.