Eni’s Clean Sea technology from research laboratories to industrial application

Clean Sea, a proprietary technology designed by Eni’s research laboratories, will debut for marine environmental monitoring and offshore asset inspection in the Mediterranean region and West Africa.
One of Eni’s most recent research and development projects, it focuses on environmental characterization and protection, and it can be used whenever accurate inspection and monitoring of water quality is required, extending its application beyond the oil and gas industry.
Clean Sea aims to ensure improved marine environmental protection by enhancing the quality and quantity of monitored data, and as it can be operated from conventional supply vessels, it offers a cost-effective option with respect to conventional monitoring technologies.
It is an advanced underwater vehicle characterized by multi-tasking interchangeable sensors optimized in a single integrated assembly, rather than several dedicated tools. In addition, Clean Sea has the capability to change its mission strategy in real time, as a function of sensor response, optimizing monitoring duration and minimizing cost.
Clean Sea can be operated in either autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) or surface controlled remotely operated vehicles (ROV) mode and is therefore more versatile than ROV based technologies.
Clean Sea has been successfully tested in many marine environments, and it is now ready for its two new logistics bases, one in Angola for West Africa and the other in Sicily for the Mediterranean region: a dedicated operative team will cover worldwide routine activity.
In the Mediterranean basin, Clean Sea will be operated by Enimed in Gela. Starting from the first quarter of 2016, two teams will be in charge of the maintenance and operation of the vehicle to provide underwater support services across the Mediterranean Sea. Planned operations include routine sealine inspections and seabed and seawater samplings for environmental monitoring.