Barnacles

• A significant reduction in risk to crew from small boat exposure 
• Better data quality through improved signal-to-noise content 
• An industry-leading approach for greater acquisition uptime with less vessel standby
• Enables high acquisition speeds with less hydrodynamic drag
• Reduces CO2 emissions and environmental footprint

PGS takes a dynamic approach to manage barnacle growth on streamers. This is important, as the associated risks are many and include crew safety, increased hydrodynamic drag and tow tensions, increased fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, instability in towing geometry, wear on equipment, and higher noise levels on recorded data.

Our primary objective is to discourage growth. We achieve this through passive mitigations and the continuous mechanical removal of growth. As streamers are efficiently maintained while fully deployed, operations can continue as normal. Consequently, there is no need for a full-spread recovery to address severe barnacle colonization.

PGS aims to mitigate barnacle growth through pre-survey risk assessments and targeted survey preparations. We also apply anti-fouling coatings to in-sea devices, and towing and handling equipment.

The reduction of barnacle larva attachment points by streamlining known points of turbulence along the streamer. The introduction of in-line technology solutions to replace external devices attached to the streamer body helps significantly. 

The continual use of automated PGS Streamer Cleaning Units applied to each streamer (SCUs) is augmented by manual streamer cleaning performed from workboat platforms with fit-for-purpose cleaning equipment.

A unique PGS solution is provided by the deployment of the remotely operated streamer cleaning tool (ROST) to the Titan-Class Ramform vessel designated as operating in the most affected regions. ROST deploys and retrieves SCUs without any requirement for workboat activity, thereby greatly reducing HSE exposure

Overall, the PGS barnacle mitigation strategy has significantly reduced small boat usage. This reduces risk to seismic field crews but also dramatically reduces vessel standby time associated with barnacle cleaning.