Below is an update as of early February on TDI-Brooks’ activities focusing on vessel deployments/availability for GoM/Mexico, northern South America (NSA) / Caribbean / Brazil and NW/W Africa regions for seep-hunting, geophysical, geotechnical, environmental baseline survey (EBS), metocean and vessel charter projects.
MEXICO
TDI-Brooks has been awarded our fourth (4th) EBS project in Mexico. This new program is for TOTAL in Block 15 that will be conducted using one of TDI-Brooks’ 3rd party vessel EBS kits off the M/V MARIN out of Ciudad del Carmen. The project will be conducted over a 2-week period starting in late February. The other EBS projects that TDI-Brooks has conducted in Mexico in the 2nd and 3rd Quarters 2017 using the R/V PROTEUS are as follows:
- BHP through AMECFosterWheeler – Trion development (2 blocks)
- Chevron – Block 3
- Total through Creocean – Block 2
TDI-Brooks has conducted more EBS projects over the last year in Mexico than any of our competitors. TDI-Brooks focus is the planning, acquisition and analytical components of these ASEA required projects. We team with Maxon Consulting who provides the regulatory and interpretative reporting component of these projects.
With the recent awards of new blocks, TDI-Brooks expects a busy year conducting EBS projects in Mexico. Please let us know if we can assist you with your awarded blocks as we have a vessel in the area. Our vessels are also outfitted for survey, geotechnical, metocean and other services as may be required.
STRATEGIC ALLIANCES – GEMS, ONE and Maxon Consulting
TDI-Brooks has strategic alliances with a number of companies that allow us to offer complete engineering and environmental project solutions. We have a long-standing association with Geoscience Earth & Marine Services (GEMS) in Houston to support our engineering reporting in marine geology/geophysics, geotechnical engineering and marine archaeology projects. TDI-Brooks seep hunting programs are conducted as part of an alliance with ONE (Drs. John Decker, Dan Orange and Phil Teas) with world-class expertise in MBES and seep-site selection. ONE is currently providing this component on our MBES/SGE/HF program in Morocco as well as all the TGS multi-client seep hunting projects. On environmental baseline surveys, we team with Maxon Consulting to provide the regulatory, comprehensive environmental interpretation and infauna/meiofauna analyses. Through these strong alliances we can provide integrated solutions for geophysical, geotechnical, seep-hunting and environmental projects.
TDI-Brooks also provides technical engineering and 3rd Party expertise. For example, we currently have two (2) contracts with a major IOC providing Dr. Jean Audibert’s geotechnical engineering expertise to Clients.
R/V PROTEUS
The R/V PROTEUS has been working continuously the last six (6) months on a series of projects in Grenada, Aruba, Colombia, Mexico, US, Fr. Guiana and now Morocco. Since the last report in November, the PROTEUS completed a six (6) week-long EBS and MBES survey project in Fr. Guiana for TOTAL through Creocean. Following completion of the Fr. Guiana project in mid-December, the vessel transited to Agadir, Morocco for a 3 month-long MBES/surface geochemical exploration (SGE) coring and heat flow project for KOSMOS.
The next availability of the R/V PROTEUS is April 2018. At that time it may remain in the West/NW Africa region or return for projects in Mexico or Northern South America (NSA) depending on the next project award. The PROTEUS is outfitted with TDI-Brooks’ complete geotechnical tool kit including 20-m JPCs and 40-m CPT-Stinger/Samplers along with other TDI-Brooks standard SGE, HF, survey, EBS, etc. services. The PROTEUS has a Kongsberg EM-710 (1×1) hull-mounted MBES for surveys to ~2,500-m wd.
R/V BROOKS McCALL
The R/V BROOKS McCALL (BMCC) remains operational in the Gulf of Mexico and available for spot charters in the Gulf of Mexico and/or the US East Coast/Caribbean out of its homeport of Freeport, TX. Over the last few months it has conducted metocean buoy rotation projects for GERG at Texas A&M University; coring/heat flow as part of the TGS OTOS seep-hunting project in the northern Gulf; and some pipeline survey work for Williams.
The BMCC’s primary market niche in the Gulf/US East Coast is geotechnical coring including 20-m JPC and 40-m CPT-Stinger acquisition. TDI-Brooks has added to our geotechnical tool kit the ability to take Shelby tube samples to 40-m with our CPT-Sampler. The BMCC is also available for pipeline hazard, cable route surveys, debris mapping, P-Cable, MBES, metocean, sand search, and environmental studies. The R/V BROOKS MCCALL is currently available with a few spot charters scheduled over the next 2-months.
Small Vessel Coastal Deployments
TDI-Brooks operates several small vessels for coastal surveys and environmental projects (BARNACLE and NORMA JEAN) primarily along the Gulf coast. Below is the 27-ft BARNACLE which is a V-hulled, inboard motor tender vessel suitable for offshore work in wd >4-ft. These vessels can be outfitted with Edgetech 4600 MBES/SSS, Edgetech 216 SBP, EA 400 fathometer, Geometrics 882 Cesium Magnetometer and C-Nav 3050 DPGS systems. The NORMA JEAN is a flat-bottom aluminum hulled vessel more suitable for working in bays and estuaries inside the barrier reefs of the GoM.
BOEM and NOAA/NS&T Federal Projects
NOAA NS&T Project – TDI-Brooks is the long-standing contractor for NOAA’s National Status and Trends (NS&T) Mussel Watch project. This is the premier, 28-year monitoring program in coastal bays and estuaries along all three US coasts (East, West/Alaska and GoM). In October/November TDI-Brooks sampled with our small coastal/bay boats about sixty (60) of these long-term monitoring stations along the Gulf coast. More info here: https://www.tdi-bi.com/tdi-brooks-awarded-national-status-and-trends-nst-program-mussel-watch-and-bioeffects-programs-analytical-chemistry/
BOEM/NOAA Canyons II Project – TDI-Brooks is the prime contractor for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Ocean Exploration and Research (OER), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) funded study entitled “DEEP SEARCH – DEEP Sea Exploration to Advance Research on Coral/Canyon/Cold seep Habitats.” This interagency five (5) year, multi-million dollar study focuses on the exploration and investigation of deepwater biological communities located in U.S. federal waters of the Atlantic Ocean, including offshore Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia). The program focus is on hard substrate habitats, with some work related to soft bottoms and within the water column. Results of the completed program will provide energy resource information needs for future offshore leasing of the Outer Continental Shelf in the mid and south Atlantic regions and information on the continental slope ecosystems.
The first cruise on this project was an 18-day cruise on the NOAA ship PISCES in September with our multi-disciplinary team of scientists from Temple University, University of Georgia, Nova University, Florida State University, Harvey Mudd College and University of New Hampshire as well as experts from numerous international universities. A second project cruise is going to be conducted on the NOAA ship NANCY FOSTER in two legs, 27 March – 06 April and 10-23 April mobilizing out of Charleston, NC. Additional details on this program can be found at the following URL: https://www.tdi-bi.com/tdi-brooks-international-awarded-deepwater-atlantic-habitats-ii/
3rd Party Deployments. TDI-Brooks can offer our coring/CPT, HF, EBS and other services off 3rd party vessels. We have 3rd Party vessel kits for all the services we offer for deployment worldwide on projects where our vessels are not located or otherwise committed. Below are some 3rd Party projects that TDI-Brooks has recently or will shortly conduct.
- Oceaneering/GoM – In early November, TDI-Brooks deployed a geotechnical team on an Oceaneering vessel for the geotechnical project component in Alaminos Canyon for a major IOC Client.
- Canadian Seabed Research Ltd. (CSR)/Lake Ontario – TDI-Brooks deployed in November its PC and gCPT geotechnical kit with operator for CSR as part of a cable route survey in Lake Ontario.
- Terrasond/GoM – In January, TDI-Brooks deployed our 2D HR survey kit on a site survey project in the Central Gulf.
New Developments
A new area that TDI-Brooks is now pursuing is geotechnical studies including shallow borings both onshore and coastal primarily with a focus on the Gulf Coast. Examples of these projects include recent geotechnical studies in Galveston Bay and Brownsville, TX for dredging and semi-submersible rig layup as well as our recent LEEDCo wind farm project in Lake Erie.
Summary
TDI-Brooks operates all of our vessels on the spot market for various research and oil company service projects. All the TDI-Brooks vessels are outfitted for our market niches of geochemical, geotechnical and environmental sampling and heat flow acquisition. Most are also available for hazard, bathymetry and metocean projects. The vessels are available for charter by Clients for other purposes. TDI-Brooks operates these vessels under its own Safety Management System and DOC. Additional details on the vessels and our services can be found on our web site: www.tdi-bi.com
