STREAM – Sonar Technology for Remote Environmental Monitoring

Offshore oil production is increasingly moving to deeper water and to autonomous, surfaceless
operation. About 30% of the 85.1 million barrels/day ($3.48 trillion) global oil production
comes from offshore wells (2010). This increases the impact of oil leaks: deep-sea leaks
usually go unnoticed until the oil reaches the surface, causing significant delays to mitigation
and clean-up. There are clear indications that untended leaks are present at both active and
abandoned wells (e.g. >2,800 and > 27,000 respectively - Gulf of Mexico), but little action is
taken by either companies or governments. This is partly due to gaps in technical capabilities:
current technologies take only infrequent “snapshot” measurements, are obscured by sand
from the seabed or are too expensive for widespread use.
We propose to exploit our patented SonarBell® technology, developed in conjunction with
DSTL, in an affordable system for continuous, autonomous and robust measurement of water
composition, through its acoustic properties of seawater. This project will develop the model
relating acoustic measurements to contaminant concentration and build a proof-of-concept
prototype of our device. We will show that our technology can identify the presence of
contaminants in a model system and identify operational needs such as improved accuracy,
range, or selectivity.
Successful completion of this project will be followed by development of a pre-commercial
prototype, for which we intend to raise additional funding. We will commercialise STREAM
in partnership with Subsea7, a major tier 1 service provider to the oil & gas industry; our
projections show the product will generate a turnover of £15m by 2021. We expect to reinvest
revenues from STREAM into the company, growing our technical and R&D capacity
for further development projects. This project will generate jobs and revenues for the UK
economy, while cementing the country’s reputation as a world-leader in sustainable
development.