Technology programmes

NSRI's core research activities are dedicated towards the needs of the subsea industry in the long term. 

The research agenda is being led through the oil & gas sector, but will develop new technologies and techniques that will have applications throughout the subsea industry, including applications in marine renewable, subsea telecoms, defence and other aspects of offshore civil engineering.

The research agenda is to reform and transform activities, focussing on research that will being significant and step change impact in technical and economic performance. Drivers are as follows: 

• Subsea field development is increasingly in deeper water, further offshore, in harsh environments.  Research is needed to adapt and develop new technologies to facilitate such future developments in a cost effective and technically efficient manner;
• There is an industry desire for new technologies that are smart or intelligent, and fundamentally more reliable in operation.  There is a need for research to develop new smart controls, intelligent inspection technologies and more reliable systems that emphasise overall system integrity in every environment to reduce cost exposure and risk;
• There is an industry trend in the oil & gas sector towards 100% subsea facilities, although it is recognised that such trends are not necessarily global.  However for 100% subsea operation as routine in all environments a step change in enhancing and enabling technologies is necessary, especially where a more limited human interface is inevitable;
• All new developments must be economically viable, environmentally sound, and safe.  New technologies can facilitate such developments thereby making exploitation of mature, marginal or stranded assets feasible technically and economically.
• New technologies can not only provide new concepts for future field development but will also provide incremental improvements to allow new technology to be backward compatible, enabling retro-fit for existing assets.  In this way research can transform future subsea developments, but also reform and extend the life of existing subsea activities.
• Innovative techniques are necessary for decommissioning of existing offshore facilities.
• Research emphasis is directed towards future subsea developments and improving reliability and integrity of existing assets, including applications for innovative and composite materials, smart controls, continuous condition monitoring, system diagnostics, wireless communications underwater, improved data transfer and data management, local subsea power generation, and autonomous operation.