Oil and gas company Shell has chosen Nauticus Robotics, a provider of robot and artificial intelligence solutions, to carry out inspection services on a subsea field development in the Gulf of Mexico. As part of the contract, Nauticus will utilize its autonomous subsea robot called Aquanaut to perform contact and non-contact inspections on the underwater facility.
Aquanaut is capable of conducting autonomous subsea manipulation tasks on live submerged equipment in depths exceeding 1,000m. The unique feature of the robot is that it does not require an umbilical cord for operation. Instead, it is remotely piloted via Nauticus’ acoustic communications link.
The award of this contract marks a significant step for Nauticus Robotics, as it signals the company’s transformation into an offshore services provider. It also opens doors for future inspection service projects. Furthermore, the project includes a solution that allows for parallel execution of other tasks using a smaller class of service vessel that would not typically engage in inspection, maintenance, and repair work.
Nauticus CEO, Nicolaus Radford, expressed his satisfaction with the progress made by his team in collaboration with Shell and the opportunity to work with one of the world’s leading energy companies. This contract not only provides long-term inspection, maintenance, and repair services for Shell but also positions Nauticus as a preferred supplier for advanced work.
In addition to this contract with Shell, Nauticus Robotics recently secured leak detection work from Equinor, a major Norwegian oil and gas company. Equinor operates around 600 underwater wells and 9,000km of subsea cables, risers, and pipelines.
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