Aker BP and DeepOcean Complete Norway's First Advanced Remote Subsea Operation in 12 Hours From Shore
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Aker BP and DeepOcean have completed what is described as a first in Norwegian offshore history, stabilising a well at the Idun Nord field in the Skarv area of the Norwegian Sea remotely from DeepOcean's Remote Operations Centre in Haugesund without sending key engineers offshore. A task that would traditionally have required up to 14 days of offshore rotation was completed in approximately 12 hours, with all operational management coordinated from shore and the subsea work executed by a remotely operated vehicle controlled from the same onshore facility.
What Was Done and How
The operation involved stabilising a well by filling the borehole with gravel, a standard inspection, maintenance, and repair task that would normally require offshore personnel aboard a specialised vessel. The vessel Dina Star had originally been mobilised to map the seabed around the Skarv area rather than for well intervention work, and the decision to carry out the stabilisation task without sending specialists offshore required moving the entire operational management function onshore. From the Remote Operations Centre, the onshore team coordinated activities aboard Dina Star in real time while the ROV conducted the physical seabed work. Advanced technology and stable communication systems enabled close coordination between the onshore team and the offshore crew, providing the situational awareness and control needed to manage a complex intervention operation safely from hundreds of kilometres away.
Operational and Commercial Benefits
The shift from 14 days offshore to 12 hours from shore illustrates the scale of efficiency gain that remote operations can deliver when the technology, communications infrastructure, and operational model are sufficiently mature. Aker BP operations manager for subsea execution and survey Jarle Marius Solland has highlighted several dimensions of the benefit, including fewer people sent offshore, the ability to apply specialised expertise across multiple projects simultaneously rather than dedicating teams to single offshore rotations, more flexible planning cycles, and reduced time and costs across the operation. Each of these benefits compounds across a fleet of vessels and a portfolio of subsea tasks, and the implications for the overall cost structure of subsea maintenance and inspection programmes are substantial if remote operations can be standardised and scaled.
Strategic Direction and Future Operating Model
For Aker BP, the remote operation is explicitly framed as a validation of a broader strategic direction rather than a one-off demonstration. Senior vice president operations Thomas Øvretveit has described Aker BP's operating strategy as one in which drones, robots, and ROVs are an integrated part of observation, inspection, and task execution offshore, operating autonomously or via remote control from local or shore-based positions. The successful Skarv operation is presented as evidence that the company is on track to deliver this strategy, and the ambition is that this way of working will be used more frequently as the operational model matures. The company's framing of the result as marking the beginning of a major shift for the entire industry reflects a belief that the Skarv operation provides a replicable template rather than a unique circumstance.
Implications for Offshore Subsea Services
The completion of an advanced remote subsea intervention without offshore engineering personnel present represents a meaningful step in the structural evolution of the offshore services industry. The ability to decouple specialised expertise from physical offshore presence reduces the cost and time associated with personnel mobilisation, expands the range of operations that can be conducted when vessels are already on location for other tasks, and improves safety by reducing the number of people exposed to the offshore environment. For the broader North Sea market, the Aker BP and DeepOcean achievement provides a commercial reference point that other operators and contractors will evaluate as they consider their own remote operations strategies, and is likely to accelerate investment in the communications infrastructure, control systems, and operational frameworks needed to replicate the model at scale.
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This article was contributed by an external writer affiliated with our publication.
