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Equinor announced the opening of the Kårstø Marine Robotics Centre on 28 October at its processing site in Tysvær, Norway. Known as KNARR, the facility will support testing, qualification and development of subsea drones, robots and autonomous vessels in connection with infrastructure that is already operating.
Three test areas have been designated at water depths of 25, 140 and 250 metres. Three kilometres of subsea cable and associated electronics have been installed to support longer-term sensor testing. Existing power cables, export pipelines and subsea structures also provide opportunities to investigate technologies such as distributed acoustic sensing.
Equinor and Gassco have allocated NOK16 million to establish the centre, with possible expansion for additional functions later. Planned applications include inspection, environmental monitoring, autonomous operations and maintenance of offshore installations. The test zones’ depths describe the facilities available; they are not well depths or measures of hydrocarbon reserves.
Equinor sees potential for future operating-cost savings from using underwater robots and unmanned vessels for suitable tasks. Those savings are an expectation, rather than a measured result of the new centre’s opening. The immediate development is access to an operational testing environment where suppliers, researchers and industry partners can evaluate technologies before wider use.