Pat Lawless (COO) of EM&I, who have been in the business of asset Integrity for more than 35 years, and specialise in floating assets, was invited to give a paper on new asset integrity technologies, including ODIN® diverless UWILD, and NoMan®, which have been industry driven, and approved by the class societies, at the recent FLNG/FSRU conference in London.
EM&I is leading a JIP (Joint Industry Project) on behalf of the FPSO Forum called HITS (Hull Inspection Techniques & Strategy), which has produced a number of new innovations which save time and money, and are much safer than traditional techniques using divers or personnel in hazardous areas.
These new technologies have been used with great success on a number of projects in Angola, Brazil, GoM, India and Nigeria, for SBM, ExxonMobil, Pacific Drilling, Vantage Drilling, and Ocean-Rig.
The paper was well received by all the FLNG & FSRU companies and operators at the conference, who are keen to capitalise on the advances made in the FPSO & Drilling sector for their assets.
The ODIN technology can be retrofitted or installed at the construction or conversion stage. The NoMan technology using special cameras can be used at any stage.
EM&I have been leading the way for the asset integrity of floating assets for many years, and continue to develop new technologies to save time and reduce costs, and improve safety for their clients.