Just this past July Sonsub Inc. in Houston, TX placed an order through our Gulf Coast Distributor Shelley Maruri for two LBV300S-FO systems. Sonsub Inc. is a leading contractor to the international offshore oil and gas and telecommunications industries. In addition to being a leading contractor Sonsub is an industry leader in work class ROV design and manufacturing. SeaBotix was honored to have such a reputable ROV service company choose LBV as their small ROV of choice.
At the end of July Sonsub technicians Mark Drewery and Dave Cowart arrived at SeaBotix in San Diego, CA for operational and maintenance training. Once training was complete the first system was shipped to Sonsub, making order to delivery in less than three weeks.
Not wasting any time the first system was put to work in the Gulf of Mexico. Approximately 150 miles south of New Orleans, LA the LBV was put to its first test. Located in the Green Canyon is the world's largest spar, Holstein. Sonsub was tasked by its client to install the production risers on the spar, fifteen in total. The job of the LBV was to assist the Sonsub Innovator WCROV in ensuring the riser was going into the correct bell guide. Operating depth was 700 feet (213 meters).
According to Randy Easterling of Sonsub Inc. the LBV operated at depth for over 100 hours with ZERO down time successfully completing the job. Other comments from Randy were "The LBV's control console is a joy to use, user friendly and easy to operate." and "I have been very happy with the video quality as are the people with Pride, who are counting on the ROV to get the job done in a timely and safe manner. Soon Sonsub Inc. will take delivery of their second LBV300S-FO system. In addition to the standard features including depth rated to 300 meters, 350 meters of umbilical, Prizm fiber optic electronics, umbilical reel, brushless thrusters the system was fitted with external lighting and three jaw grabber.
Update: the LBV was put in the water on the 18th of August at 11:45 sent to 700 feet depth and taken out of the water on the 28th of August at 02:30. That is 231 hours of operation at 700 feet with no down time.
View images in the Photo Gallery
