Oceaneering International
Solving The Most Complex Under-Water Challenges

This memoir by Mike Hughes, founder of Oceaneering, narrates his journey from a commercial diver to the Chairman of Oceaneering International, Inc. and the evolution of a boutique diving company into one of the world’s leading subsea engineering and applied technology provider today. Hughes has been a Director of Oceaneering from its inception and served as Chairman of the Board. Oceaneering’s establishment dates back to the early 1960s, when Hughes and Johnny Johnson, a marine technology expert, formed a diving company called World Wide Divers. This company grew rapidly in response to increasing demand for their services and later merged with two other diving companies to form Oceaneering International. The Oceaneering marine services division operating from state-of-the-art facilities in Chesapeake, VA.

Since its inception, the company has transformed from a small regional diving company into a global provider of engineered products and services. Today, Oceaneering develops products and services for use throughout the lifecycle of an offshore oilfield, from drilling to decommissioning. It operates the world's premier fleet of work class ROVs and holds a renowned position in offshore oilfield maintenance services, tooling, and subsea hardware, besides the aerospace, defense, and theme park industries. Oceaneering’s unmatched experience and innovative portfolio of technologies safely and reliably improve performance in oilfield, aerospace, entertainment, material handling, defense, renewable energy, and research applications. From repairs and alterations to complete system overhauls, the company ensures world-class standards in their offerings.

Excellence Beyond The Reach of Conventional Divers

Most marine companies continually face difficult challenges that may often seem like impossible to solve. These are the times when they reach over to Oceaneering International. Oceaneering has taken on the toughest challenges with the confidence to help clients achieve anything and everything. “When they need to work at depths beyond the reach of conventional divers, they look forward to Oceaneering for solutions that no one else can find because we never stop exploring to deliver the best result. Give us a problem that can be overcome and ‘Oceaneers’ won’t quit till its solved. This ‘can do’ spirit reflects in our values. We do things right, solve complex problems, and together we grow. We outperform expectations and we always take the challenge,” explains Rod Larson, CEO, Oceaneering International.

Oceaneering’s Marine Services Division has more than 30 years of experience in providing full-service ship repair capabilities for U.S. Naval vessels including submarines, surface ships and craft, and deep submergence systems

Oceaneering’s Marine Services Division has more than 30 years of experience in providing full-service ship repair capabilities for U.S. Naval vessels including submarines, surface ships and craft, and deep submergence systems. The company is certified in submarine safety (SUBSAFE) and deep submergence system scope of certification (DSS-SOC) repair activities, and specializes in the design, repair, maintenance, modification, and installation of marine systems. Oceaneering performs high-consequence maintenance on assets that operate in demanding environments with an expert team all set to meet even the most time-sensitive and critical schedule deadlines. Oceaneering’s marine services ranges from submarine and ship repair support services, to deep submergence systems (DSS) program support, and complex structural manufacturing as well as non-destructive testing offering.

Oceaneering’s deep submergence systems enable to safely complete missions in harsh subsea environments. It supports special warfare missions for dry deck shelters (DDSs) and submarine rescue for pressurized rescue modules (PRMs) on any manned and pressurized platform. Moreover, Oceaneering is the world’s largest manufacturer and operator of work class ROV systems. Its ROV fleet includes deepwater work class systems and ultra-deepwater search and rescue systems.

What makes Oceaneering standout from other players is their cost-effective execution of work completed by a highly skilled, cross-trained, and agile workforce available for rapid global mobilization. With highly experienced teams in maintenance of platforms that operate in the world’s harshest environments, Oceaneering has built an exceptional track record in completing high-consequence work.

Solving the Unsolvable in Real-life

Oceaneering supports U.S. Naval and private shipyards with repairs and overhauls of shipboard systems and equipment. As one of only three private companies certified to perform work on critical SUBSAFE systems, Oceaneering delivers solutions with uncompromised project execution and quality. The company also completes planned and corrective maintenance, upgrades, and modernizations for U.S. Navy, military sealift, maritime administration, and commercial vessels to ensure their operating integrity.

Oceaneering was once contacted by a customer requiring a solution to repair a gas pipeline that was compromised and a leak was identified. It was located off the coast of Singapore in the Southeast Asia region and deployed at a depth of 80 meters.

The customer had an extremely demanding schedule. The FAT needed to coincide with tight air freight deadlines and the SIT strategically scheduled to ensure all elements required to complete the repair were in place. The deployment frame was manufactured in Singapore while the clamp was manufactured at Oceaneering facilities. Oceaneering designed and manufactured a special-order diverless clamp that was hinged on one side and would open and close like a clam shell with the aid of hydraulic cylinders. The clamp, once positioned on the pipeline in the area of the leak, would be closed around the pipe and sealed.

"When they need to work at depths beyond the reach of conventional divers, they look forward to Oceaneering for solutions that no one else can find because we never stop exploring to deliver the best result"

This would be accomplished using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) capable of interfacing with the clamp. The ROV was able torque the clamp’s body bolts and set the actuator studs, effectively setting the seals and grips that would secure the clamp to the pipeline and making a seal on the pipeline capable of achieving a test pressure of 1.5 times the working pressure of the pipeline. Oceaneering’s team also designed and manufactured a deployment frame that could be used to accurately position the clamp over the leak. The breadth of the Oceaneering portfolio was highlighted through the use of an inhouse free span rectification frame, weld seam removal tool, coating removal tool, straightness gauge and subsea dredge. Oceaneering’s team successfully deployed the clamp, installed, and sealed the leaking pipeline.

Ready to Delivering Unmatched Productivity

From the most unfathomable depths to the pathways of commerce and to the space where gravity gives way, to the farthest reach of technology and imaginations, Oceaneering is on a mission to ‘Solve the Unsolvable.’ In that regards, Oceaneering International, and Pacific Drilling recently entered into a digital services package agreement to offer Pacific’s customers with better reliability and improved throughput to enable video streaming and real-time data insights. The collaboration between Oceaneering and Pacific Drilling aims to make the “Rig of the Future” a reality today.

On a bid to reinvent the future of marine technology, Oceaneering recently took the delivery of the advanced subsea construction support vessel, Ocean Evolution—the most advanced, U.S.-flagged, Jones Act-compliant, multi-service vessel (MSV) in the market. The vessel serves the deepwater stimulation and intervention needs of our customers with its well stimulation and well intervention design, ABS Well Stimulation and Well Intervention (WS/ WI) ready notation and under deck capacity to store special products. The Ocean Evolution is a world class vessel ready to service the construction and intervention needs of customers in deepwater in combination with Oceaneering’s portfolio of subsea products and services. This combination will provide unmatched productivity, safety, and value for many years to come.