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SAT DIVER

There has been much ATITUDE: 27° 46 13, LONGITUDE 48° 52 52. Sunlight winks and discussion recently about L dances on the azure waters of the robots taking over the duties Arabian Gulf, and the already-hot morning air – well on the way to the day’s of human labourers in the high of 43°C – carries the sharp tang of deep underwater workforce. salt as the helicopter delivers me to the Which prompts us to ask: dive-spot here at the port of Tanajib, 150 miles north of Dammam, Saudi Arabia. what is it like to be a I’m not on holiday – though every saturation diver? Certainly day’s an adventure. I’m a diver in the Underwater Inspection and Repair Unit YAQUB AL-OMOUD seems (UIRU) of Saudi Aramco’s Marine in no hurry to hand over to Department. the machines, even if he is… The department has a fleet of vessels that support the exploration, production and transportation of oil, in and around Above : The dive-helmet the company’s concession areas. weighs close to 15kg and is fitted with a camera and Twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a audio set for communicating year, we work from a number of the with the dive vessel. kingdom’s ports. UNDER My job is to ensure the integrity of Aramco’s offshore subsea/underwater assets, including barges, ships, platforms, wells, rigs and subsea pipelines, by conducting inspections and any necessary maintenance and repairs, such as di vErNEt.com 71 di vEr SAT DIVER

welding – and even work. This job serves two passions for me. First, it meets my need for something bigger than myself. In some small way, what I do touches someone else along the spectrum of human experience. So whether our energy finds its outcome in the fuel that gets you where you want to go, in the plastics that make your car safer, or even the coating on a medicine that makes you well – I’m glad to have a hand in it. My other passion is the sea, and not just for the spectacular coral reefs and colourful marine life beneath the waves. I work in deep water. It is at once a vast frontier that is completely inhospitable to humans, and a global web of the intricate, vital eco-systems on which all life on Earth depends. It’s a tough, fulfilling and exciting job, and I’m lucky to be able to do what I love.

COMPANY HELICOPTER drops me chambers, attaining equilibrium with the Clockwise from top left: stops other than Adirectly at the oil or gas installation depth’s . At work under water; diver depressurisation at the end of the where my awaiting vessel is stationed, Meals, prepared on site, are delivered Yaqub Al-Omoud prepares assignment. to enter the saturation or at the nearest port to board my through a pressure-equalisation hatch chamber, which allows Twenty-four hours of decompression designated vessel. I’ll stay on board the (referred to as the medical lock). diving for longer periods for every 100ft of pressure is the rule of vessel for an eight-week-long shift, five Because of the very light density of and greater efficiency in thumb. The time efficiency and direct cost days on and two off, before returning helium, our voices are remarkably higher- operations. It will be his relation make this a safe, controllable and home to my family for about eight weeks. pitched than usual, making us sound like home for six to eight weeks. effective method of work production. Rest, recover and repeat. a cross between Mickey Mouse and So a typical decompression would take The procedure for becoming an Donald Duck. Voice descramblers are around three days to complete at the end Aramco diver is challenging, and only a used to aid clear communication between of our month in the chamber. handful of applicants make the cut. incredibly safety-oriented, prepared for Top, from left: From subsea Working as a commercial diver requirements, logistics, complexity – and us and the life-support technicians and Getting to work is as simple as passing Fitness is the first hurdle in applying for every contingency. pipelines to rigs, platforms compressed air, I accrued the depth. Two diving support vessels (DSVs) diving supervisors controlling the systems through an (or transferring under and vessels, the divers the job, and certainly for doing physically Earlier in my career I worked to necessary hours at various depths to operate in shallow water of 2.5-15m; two on which our lives depend. pressure) from my chamber to the closed perform a wide range of demanding work with heavy tools and a maximum depth of 50m, breathing duties including welding achieve my present qualification as a other DSVs operate in 15-50m; and one We wear hotwater-circulating , which lowers my team (for equipment in an extreme environment. compressed air. I would access the subsea and inspection. The UIRU “mixed-gas bell diver”, more commonly Saturation DSV operates at 30-300m. that pump water around the inner section a total of two to three of us in the bell) to Applicants undergo stringent medical work area by being winched down in a 2 x divers are on standby 24/7. referred to as a saturation diver. I’m on the Sat DSV. When I’m not of the suit for warmth in the deeper, the pitch-dark seabed or the required and physical evaluations, followed by 1m mesh Launch & Recovery Systems performing my diving duties deployed colder depths. depth. a three-month orientation programme (LARS) cage to handle one of the 20 to 40 Above: One of the team is O MIX METAPHORS, being a sat from the diving bell, I’m in a high- Typically, air divers work from 10 to One or two of us then deploy from the given assistance in preparing devoted to onboard observation, and requests coming in daily. for a dive. Tdiver working as deep as 300m is the pressure saturation chamber with up to 120 minutes at 1 to 50m depth, then take bottom hatch of the bell and into the intensive safety and decompression A monitored my dive pinnacle of diving work. six other divers. some 40 minutes to gradually resurface to water, while the second or third team- training. at every stage, from pre-submersion to There are relatively few of us around Pressurised to about the same depth as prevent . member remains for safety cover, and to Another 90-day training session decompression and resurfacing. the world, based on the rigorous our diving working depth from the bell, operate the internal gas- and pressure- follows for specialised oil and gas My featured a camera professional certifications and the specific the hyperbaric chamber system allows us ESIDES ENSURING life-preserving valves inside the bell. industry and competencies tracking my every move in real time, and physical and mental capacities required to to breathe – a mixture of Boccupational safety for divers, the Once the operation is finished, the bell in areas such as hydraulic and pneumatic umbilical held my diving gases be able to dive for extended hours at this and helium – to achieve inert-gas decompression technology delivers huge hoists us back to the vessel. The team then power tools, underwater welding and and wiring for my light and radio great depth. saturation within the body’s tissues. time- and cost-saving efficiencies for the rotates prior to the next bell excursion. cutting. We also have to be skilled in our communication, with the surface dive Our unit has five vessels that are That’s usually a 24-hour process. operating industry and customers, by Working on the ocean floor is like inspection and repair work, and panel overseeing the operation. deployed according to the job We sleep and relax in our saturation reducing or eliminating the need for being in deep space – not surprisingly, di vEr 72 di vErNEt.com di vErNEt.com 73 di vEr SAT DIVER

astronauts use to train Above : More members of for their missions. the dive-team. In fact, NASA was close to nominating Right : Marine-life divers for training as space-walkers rather sightings have to be than pilots, because of their familiarity incidental to the task with zero gravity and strong ability to at hand. carry out engineering and repair tasks in harsh environments. Below: Preparations for a dive. A range of technologies, equipment and practices is required to make work in this setting not only possible, but safer and more productive. The oil and gas industry has to develop to sustainably find and produce energy to meet growing demand without increasing risk to life or assets. For operations closer to the surface, Saudi Aramco has developed a robotic technology that makes it possible to perform shallow-water asset assessments

remotely from aboard the dive vessel. exploration more efficient, more effective This Shallow Water Inspection and and safer – while also protecting and even Monitoring Robot, or SWIM-R, can carry enhancing the offshore environment. out visual inspections, marine-life For thousands of years, these Arabian cleaning, ultrasonic thickness readings Gulf waters were plied by divers equipped and cathodic protection measurements with only a nose-clip, basket and length while circumventing the obstacle and of rope, in quest of pearls – a rich access issues that can pose problems for commodity. divers. The technology has been adopted Working in the offshore sector, I feel by other ROV companies for its design that I’m part of a time-honoured philosophy. seafaring tradition. I believe this innovation is just a hint of Like those hardy souls, I have a role in things to come, and that technology will harvesting something of great value and continue to uncover ways to make the importance to people everywhere – data collection, inspection and repair the vital energy resources from these work in support of offshore oil and gas forbidding yet life-affirming depths. di vEr 74 di vErNEt.com