Case Studies

REAV-47 + REAV-28: Blended capabilities for riverine and coastal survey operations | GOSL Nigeria

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The Client

Geodetic Offshore Services Limited (GOSL) is a Nigerian-based company delivering advanced offshore survey and support services to the region’s oil and gas sector. With established expertise in Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) operations, inspection and intervention surveys, offshore hydrographic surveys and geophysical surveys, the company identified an opportunity to integrate new technologies into its survey operations.

Historically, GOSL has relied on conventional, crewed vessels to deliver survey projects. In response to evolving client expectations from its key customers in the region, such as Shell – the company has begun its journey into Uncrewed Surface Vessels (USVs) as a means of adopting a more modern, flexible and sustainable approach to marine data acquisition.

The Challenge

GOSL Nigeria set out to address several key challenges:
  • Reduce its carbon footprint in-line with industry-wide and client sustainability commitments.
  • Minimising health, safety and environmental risks by limiting human exposure to offshore conditions.
  • Lower the high operational costs associated with traditional crewed survey vessels.
  • Sustain the payload capacity and vessel capability to meet key client survey specifications.
To achieve this, GOSL sought proven small and midsize USV solutions that balance low financial risk, with the best performance standards expected by its oil and gas clients. Recognising the nature of offshore operations, the company prioritised the selection of a partner with responsive and dependable technical support, available within their time zone.

The Solution

REAV‑47: Commercial-duty uncrewed survey

At the core of GOSL’s solution is a new-build REAV-47 with a high-specification survey payload designed to deliver comprehensive hydrographic and geophysical data. Within a handy mid-sized platform configuration, the system integrates a PingDSP 3DSS-iDX sonar, with an Innomar compact sub-bottom profiler, and the onward capability to install a magnetometer.

REAV-47 : Engineered to enable sustained, reliable nearshore survey operations

The vessel’s 12kW Mastervolt battery module, paired with a 4kW Fischer Panda generator provide dependable, long duration power to support continuous survey operation. Remote command and control is delivered with HydroSurv’s Virtual Watchkeeper, supported by a Dynautics autopilot and Furuno navigation suite to provide robust, high-integrity guidance and precise station keeping and line keeping for accurate survey tracks.

REAV-47 : Flexible deployment and scalable mission capability

The platform supports flexible deployment, either as a standalone, self-transiting USV for nearshore
survey, or acting as a survey force-multiplier with the REAV-28, or a crewed mothership, or both. Designed with onward capability in mind, REAV-47 can scale and adapt to specific client requirements.

REAV‑28: Versatile shallow-water operations

Compact and highly transportable, the REAV-28 can be rapidly mobilised and deployed for day-work projects, offering clients a cost-effective solution for high-resolution bathymetric data acquisition in shallow or confined waterways. Its flexibility allows GOSL to extend survey coverage beyond offshore environments, ensuring consistent data quality across both inland and coastal domains.

“The REAV-47 and REAV-28 have been able to cater to our requirements. Through extensive meetings and support from HydroSurv’s team for the past year… we are looking forward to seeing it in action as a lot of testing and hard work has been put in from everyone”.

Olumuyiwa Animashawun Survey Project Manager, GOSL

The Result

GOSL is transitioning its nearshore hydrographic and geophysical survey operations from conventional crewed vessels to uncrewed, high-efficiency USVs. Operated from Port Harcourt, the new platforms will deliver high-precision, cost-effective and lower-carbon survey solutions across West Africa, directly supporting client ESG objectives. The USVs enable comprehensive landfall and pipeline corridor mapping through high-resolution multibeam bathymetry and sub-bottom profiling, reducing both operational risk and crew exposure offshore.

The REAV-28 and REAV-47 are already being used extensively in UK survey operations, with vessel performance and data quality meeting all specified benchmarks, and HydroSurv is working closely with GOSL Nigeria to extend the utility of the vessels for additional use-cases.

Future Plans

The GOSL-28 and GOSL-47 will be deployed from the company’s Port Harcourt base, supported by a purpose-built Remote Operations Centre currently under development at GOSL’s Lagos head office. This facility will enable centralised monitoring and control of uncrewed survey operations across the region. HydroSurv will provide ongoing support for upcoming campaigns through a combination of in-country technical assistance and remote expertise, ensuring reliable performance and knowledge transfer to GOSL’s local team.

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