Innovative monitoring of offshore methane and hydrocarbons with miniature sensors and autonomy

自主水下航行器(AUV)可以装载化学传感器，并被派往深海进行高分辨率调查。石油和天然气行业对它们很感兴趣，因为如果安装了正确的传感器，它们可以用来帮助监测海底管道的泄漏，还可以通过测量上面水域的化学成分(例如溶解甲烷浓度)来查明海底新的碳氢化合物储量。然而，对于常规监测和勘探来说，AUV的成本高得令人望而却步，而且通常需要一艘昂贵的大型船只出现在水面上。AUV技术的一项新创新是微型潜艇。这些微型AUV的成本可能是传统大型AUV价格的2%左右，而且足够小，可以从小型充气船或海岸线上发射。它们可以到达大型AUV无法到达的复杂区域(浅水和珊瑚礁)，并可以大规模行动，有效地调查大片区域。微型潜艇的主要缺点是它们的机载空间和动力有限，这意味着许多传感器系统无法携带。这意味着微型潜艇进行的测量是非常基本的。目前还没有可以部署在微型潜艇上的甲烷传感器。在南安普敦的国家海洋学中心，我们开发了一种新的微型甲烷传感器，可以部署在微型潜艇上。在这个项目中，我们将把这种传感器改装成部署在EcoSUB上，这是一种由NOC与Planet Ocean合作开发的微型潜艇。我们将与英国石油公司合作，在示范任务中测试配备甲烷传感器的ecoSUB，并帮助英国石油公司改变他们进行泄漏检测和勘探的方式。使用微型潜水器及早发现泄漏将有助于英国石油公司降低海底管道泄漏的成本和环境影响。更高效的勘探将降低寻找新油气储量的成本和环境影响。

Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) can be loaded with chemical sensors and sent on missions to conduct high-resolution surveys in the deep sea. They are of interest to the oil and gas industry, as, if fitted with the right sensors, they can be used to help monitor subsea pipelines for leaks and also pinpoint new hydrocarbon reserves under the seafloor by measuring the chemical composition (e.g. the dissolved methane concentration) of the waters above. However, AUVs are prohibitively expensive for routine monitoring and exploration, and often require a large and expensive ship to be present on the surface. A new innovation in AUV technology is the microsub. These miniature AUVs can cost about 2% of the price of a traditional large AUV and are small enough to be launched from a small inflatable boat or the shoreline. They can reach complex areas (shallow waters and reefs) that larger AUVs cannot get to, and can operate in large swarms to efficiently survey a large area. The main drawback of microsubs is that they have limited onboard space and power, meaning that many sensor systems cannot be carried. This means the measurements performed by microsubs are very basic. No methane sensors are currently available that can be deployed on microsubs. At the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, we have developed a new miniaturised methane sensor that could be deployed on microsubs. In this project, we will adapt this sensor to be deployed on ecoSUB, a microsub developed at the NOC in partnership with Planet Ocean. We will work with BP to test the ecoSUB equipped with the methane sensor on demonstration missions, and help BP to change the way in which they perform leak detection and exploration. Detecting leaks early using microsubs will help BP reduce the cost and environmental impact of subsea pipeline leaks. More efficient exploration will reduce the cost environmental impact of searching for new oil and gas reserves.