US-based oil major Chevron has announced that it has successfully tested using mini remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to clean marine growth from the subsea structures of its offshore assets.

A subsea structure requires regular cleaning, as marine growth can disturb the coating that protects against corrosion and add excess weight to the structure.

In the past, divers have worked in teams to clean such structures with high-pressure jets, but this time-consuming process endangers the health and safety of the divers.

Chevron, which makes the Texaco grease and lubricant range, therefore partnered with Norwegian startup Bravo Marine to develop mini ROVs capable of performing this task faster and more safely.

The process makes use of two ROVs. One does the actual cleaning, while a second films it and transmits the video to an operator on the platform, so this person can control the first ROVs appropriately.

The cleaning ROV’s arms are each equipped with four high-pressure jets and a scraper or rotating disc to help remove marine growth.

Gopal Kothari was tasked with testing the new ROVs with their patented cleaning module. He said:

“To see cleaning mini ROVs in action on oil and gas assets was extremely satisfying. Deploying the mini ROV will minimise the use of divers for marine growth cleaning and keep personnel safer. Rotating disks, along with high-pressure nozzles, remove marine growth at double the efficiency of traditional methods.”

ROVs have also been successfully applied to other tasks in the offshore oil and gas industry, such as performing subsea inspections.