Pelagian
Subsea Cable Specialists
Developers and Owners
Pelagian provides a complete marine consultancy and management service for all aspects of the submarine cable, offshore renewable energy and hydrocarbons industries. With extensive experience in these industries, our consultants have a deep understanding of the marine environment within which our customers work and the skills required to ensure a successful project outcome.
Case Study: Iraq ICOEEP Cable Burial Risk Assessment
Pelagian was contracted to provide expert personnel and consultancy services for the installation and remedial works for the Iraq Crude Oil Export Expansion Project (ICOEEP), located off the Shatt-al-Arab in the Persian Gulf.
Project work included provision of offshore client representatives to oversee the works and subsequent analysis of cable burial. As part of the analysis of the cable installation works, Pelagian conducted a detailed cable burial risk assessment.
The risk assessment considered the external threat to the installed cables from external factors such as shipping and fishing and formulated a remedial burial plan for the cables. The project highlighted challenging burial conditions close to existing pipelines and considered the long term operation of the cables in a busy and complex oil & gas shipping zone.
Case Study: Rampion Offshore Wind Farm Cable Route Engineering
Pelagian provided a detailed GAP Analysis, cable route engineering and cable burial risk assessment consultancy services to the Rampion Offshore Windfarm.
Project work included the design and layout of the export and array cables and geospatial data management and expert recommendations for suitable cable burial equipment and techniques to inform the tendering process prior to cable installation.
The route engineering encountered challenging seabed conditions requiring the careful planning of the wind farm array cables in 20-40m of water around planned jack up locations and avoiding underlying paleochannel areas.
Case Study: Personnel and Consultancy Services for Hibernia Express
Pelagian provided expert consultancy services and personnel to the Hibernia Express project, the first trans-Atlantic telecom cable to be installed for over 10 years on a unique low latency route laid in very challenging seabed conditions.
Pelagian’s consultancy services included the management of survey and installation programs, permitting research and stakeholder management including the preparation of Notice to Mariners and information for the public.
During the 2 year project, Pelagian provided key personnel for the survey and installation campaigns and contributed to the success of the Hibernia Express project, which was awarded “Project of the Year – Subsea” and “Best Subsea Innovation” at the Global Carrier Awards in 2015.
Case Study: Due Diligence Consultancy Services German Offshore Wind Farm
Pelagian were contracted by a major German offshore wind farm developer to provide expert consultancy services for the tendering phase of the project.
Pelagian provided a detailed review of the technical and commercial tenders for the laying of subsea cables on the project and analysed the capabilities of the cable laying techniques offered.
The client was fully briefed on the suitability of the tenders by utilising a detailed bid scoring system developed for the project.
Case Study: Personnel and Consultancy Services for Gwynt Y Mor
Pelagian provided consultancy services and key personnel to the Gwynt Y Mor project during the planning and construction phases. Gwynt Y Mor is one of the world’s largest offshore wind farms and was completed in 2014.
Pelagian’s expert consultancy services included detailed route engineering and cable burial assessment for the export and array cables, geospatial data management for survey and construction data and providing expert advice on cable burial equipment and installation methodologies to advise the tendering process.
Pelagian provided numerous offshore based technical personnel for the project, including client representatives and engineers for geophysical surveys, cable lay and foundation installation works during the project.
Case Study: International Cable System Permitting Consultancy Services
Pelagian were contracted to provide permitting and regulatory services to a major International Cable System project, working on behalf of the cable installer and system owners.
The work scope consisted of data gathering for countries in Europe, the Mediterranean and the Far East segments of the cable system.
Challenges included the negotiations with French authorities on landing point selection and the crossing of areas of Posidonia Seagrass and sensitive negotiations in Thailand where the cable is planned to pass through a protected area. These negotiations informed both government and the cable owners of the specific requirements to minimise environmental impact to achieve a successful cable route.
Case Study: Main One Permitting Consultancy Services
Pelagian were contracted to provide permitting and regulatory services to the Main One Cable System project, working on behalf of the cable installer and system owners.
The work scope consisted of detailed in-country data gathering at a diplomatic level in all but one of the North and West African countries from Morocco to Nigeria and development of the data into a sophisticated permit management system which was used to track the requirements, progress and costs associated with each country.
The permit work encompassed detailed knowledge of government and regulatory requirements for cable landing points, work in Territorial seas, traverse of EEZ waters, crossing of oil/gas concessions and negotiation of agreements for both survey and cable installation. The work was successfully completed without delay or penalty, considered a first in the history of a West African cable project.
Case Study: Middle East Cable Route Studies
Pelagian have compiled numerous Middle East based Cable Route Studies in the last 10 years for telecom customers, planning multi landing cable routes in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Iran and Pakistan.
The Cable Route Studies provided a resource of information regarding natural and manmade hazards to the cables, permitting and environmental considerations and the design of cost effective and efficient routes to a variety of different landing countries.
Pelagian supported these projects with a proven track record of project work in the Middle East combined with an intimate knowledge of business practices, permitting and regulatory considerations and system security.
Case Study: Mediterranean Cable Route Studies
Pelagian have compiled numerous Mediterranean based Cable Route Studies in the last 10 years for telecom customers, planning trunk and spur cable routes from Northern Europe to Southern France, Italy and Spain across to Egypt, Turkey and Cyprus.
The Cable Route Studies provided a resource of information regarding natural and manmade hazards to the cables, permitting and environmental considerations and the design of cost effective and efficient routes to a variety of different landing countries.
Pelagian’s expertise in cable landing selection, marine permitting and risk assessment helped to generate a variety of diversified routes across the Mediterranean, where space for new cables is becoming difficult to engineer and environmental legislation becoming much more significant for project planning.
Case Study: Irish Sea Offshore Wind Farm Cable Route Engineering
Pelagian has been providing cable route engineering support to numerous offshore wind farms in the Irish Sea since 2009, including Walney, Ormonde, West of Duddon Sands and Gwynt Y Mor.
Project work has included the design and layout of export and array cables, landing point optimisation, selection of burial equipment and burial assessment, managing cable crossings over existing seabed infrastructure and geospatial data management.
The seabed in this region provides a number of challenges for cable installation and burial, where mobile sediments, glacial till and boulders are commonplace. The cable route layouts and selection of burial equipment were designed to take into consideration the prevalence of these hard ground conditions and mobile sediments.
Case Study: Annual Depth of Burial Survey
Pelagian has been providing annual depth of burial surveys on a subsea telecom cable in Europe for the last 10 years. This cable is located in an environmentally sensitive shallow water area, where numerous cables from both telecoms and offshore renewables / power make landfall in Northern Europe.
The seabed in the area is prone to sediment mobility, potentially exposing the buried cable to external risks such as fishing and anchoring. The area has also recently seen a number of new projects with increased construction shipping activity, serving the offshore wind farms.
The survey is undertaken using high resolution multibeam bathymetry, sidescan sonar and subsea cable tracking equipment mounted on a sled. This is used to determine the depth of cover of sediment and enable direct comparisons with the previous years’ survey, to monitor the burial status of the cable.
Case Study: Isle of Wight Telecom Cable Route Study
In 2014 Pelagian were contracted to research a desk top cable route study for two new domestic fibre-optic cables between Portsmouth on the UK mainland and Ryde on the Isle of Wight.
The Solent was a challenging area for the study. The routes sympathetically considered the important coastal habitats and also numerous marine activities. These included fishing, commercial shipping, recreational boating and yacht races and the planned Portsmouth regional dredging campaign.
The two cable routes were chosen to minimise the impact of both natural and manmade hazards present in the Solent and provide safe and diversified routes between the UK and the Isle of Wight, protecting internet connectivity for the local population.
