BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 28. Norwegian energy company Equinor has opened a new marine robotics test center designed to support the development, testing and qualification of technologies for offshore operations, the company said on October 28.
The Kårstø Marine Robotics Center (KNARR), inaugurated on October 28, is located at the Kårstø processing plant in Tysvær, Norway. It is among the first facilities of its kind globally to be connected to an operating industrial site, enabling marine robotic technologies to be tested under real operational conditions.
The center is intended to serve a broad range of maritime industries, supporting the development of technologies for infrastructure inspection, autonomous operations, environmental monitoring, security and offshore maintenance.
"KNARR will enable the development and testing of new technologies in an operational environment," the company said.
The facility complements existing test centers focused on the early stages of technology development. It includes three designated testing areas at water depths of 25 metres, 140 metres and 250 metres, allowing technologies to be assessed under different subsea conditions.
Equinor expects the wider adoption of underwater robots and autonomous vessels to generate annual cost savings of several hundred million Norwegian kroner in the coming years.
Marine robotics is expected to play an increasingly important role in inspecting, monitoring and maintaining offshore infrastructure. These technologies can reduce personnel exposure to hazardous conditions, improve operational performance and provide better data for decision-making.
The Kårstø processing plant in Nord-Rogaland is the largest of its kind in Europe. The plant plays a key role in the transport and processing of gas, condensates and light oil from major sites on the Norwegian continental shelf. The latest developments at Kårstø have brought a large increase in its capacity to receive and process around 98 million standard cubic metres of rich gas, and addition, the plant also receives condensate/light oil via a separate pipeline.
