Woodside enters new era with its first-ever remote subsea inspection in the Gulf

In 2025, subsea inspections for the Shenzi asset, located 195 km off the coast of Louisiana, entered the remote era – marking a new chapter for Woodside’s Subsea Integrity Management in International Operations.

This is one of the first approved remote inspections by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) in the US and the first ever by Woodside in the US.

Remote inspections provide several advantages, including increased efficiency, the utilisation of innovative technologies, and time savings.  Most importantly, remote inspections reduce risks to human safety by minimising the need for close contact.

Prior to this campaign, inspections were conducted offshore, requiring the full team – including inspectors, engineers, and support personnel –  to be physically present on the inspection vessel. The transition to remote inspections eliminates the need for full crews to be onboard, significantly reducing human exposure to hazardous offshore environments.

Subsea inspections are vital to Woodside’s Gulf operations, maintaining equipment integrity and facilities, monitoring wells and to improve safety, reliability, and efficiency. We have advanced subsea integrity management by adopting remote subsea inspections.

Woodside has collaborated with contractor Wood PLC to launch the remote subsea inspection and Underwater Inspection In Lieu of Drydocking (UWILD) campaigns in the Gulf.

Previously, data was collected offline at the site and often took several months to review and analyse, then uploaded into the Integrity Data Management System (IDMS).

Now, remote inspections are saving much-needed time and cost. Data collected from the remote sites is received at Wood and transmitted directly to IDMS, enabling engineers to analyse the information, identify issues and make decisions within a short space of time. Now the live recordings can be reviewed and anomalies addressed in real time, removing the need to wait for the next inspection campaign.

The collaboration between Woodside and Wood aims to reduce risk by minimising personnel exposure, reducing the cycle time from inspection to remediation, and enhancing the quality of inspections.

This initiative demonstrates Woodside's dedication to maintaining operations, emphasising safety, efficiency, and performance.