Space technology could benefit subsea oil and gas exploration

Its developers claim the low-power sensor technology, based on recent advances in laser and quantum atomic optics, will be the first of its kind to take readings in deep subsea environments and will be deployed on autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) or remotely operated vehicles (ROVs).

Dr Charles Wang, an astrophysicist at Aberdeen University, is leading the technology development and discussed his work yesterday at the British Science Festival.

‘This technology was initially developed for space applications and therefore there’s some analogy between the autonomous requirements for satellite missions and AUV operations,’ he told The Engineer. ‘There is an opportunity for some of this cutting-edge technology to be transferred to the subsea industry.’

In a statement, he explained that high-sensitivity sensors pick up small gravitational changes that indicate the presence of an object and that this technology has been used for decades in the oil and gas industry to detect prospective oil fields.

However, the technology is too large and power hungry to take under water and been limited to work above the sea level with companies using gravity measurements as part of airborne surveys.