The FCV4000, a 4,000-meter work-class remotely operated vehicle (ROV) independently developed by China Offshore Fugro Geosolutions (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. (COFG) under China Oilfield Services Limited, a subsidiary of China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), has successfully completed its first field verification operations across multiple offshore oilfields, including Panyu, Huizhou, Xijiang, and Lufeng.
This marks the ROV’s debut in real-sea applications. During the operations, it performed key tasks such as subsea cable inspections and conductor slot investigations on jacket platforms.
ROVs are unmanned submersible vehicles, remotely operated via an umbilical cable. Their core systems include a pressure-resistant frame, thruster system, power and communication tether, and a surface control unit.
The FCV4000 is equipped with high-definition cameras, sensors, and hydraulic robotic arms, enabling it to function in extreme deep-sea conditions characterized by high pressure and low temperatures. It is designed for a wide range of underwater missions including marine engineering support, offshore oil and gas facility maintenance, marine resource development, scientific research and underwater rescue.
As the fifth-generation of heavy-duty deepwater ROVs developed by COFG, the FCV4000 is capable of operating at depths of 4,000 meters or more. The vehicle features a proprietary high-strength titanium alloy frame as well as composite pressure-resistant buoyancy materials. The buoyancy module achieves a pressure tolerance 1.2 times above the safety load, with structural strength increased by 50 percent compared to the earlier FCV3000 model and buoyancy redundancy exceeding 15 percent.
Laboratory testing of the FCV4000 demonstrated significant upgrades in operational parameters. Leveraging long-range deep-sea fiber-optic communication and advanced multi-degree-of-freedom manipulator algorithms, the system achieved a 95 percent precision rate in underwater identification and operations, enabling it to carry out delicate tasks at over 4,000 meters underwater.
CNOOC will continue to conduct large-scale application tests of the FCV4000 to further verify its performance across a wide range of underwater operations, including deepwater oil and gas field installations as well as subsea infrastructure inspections in complex marine environments.
(Executive editor: Yuan Ting)
