TDI-Brooks is pleased to announce that we have been awarded 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 “Deepwater Atlantic Habitats II: Continued Atlantic Research and Exploration in Deepwater Ecosystems with Focus on Coral, Canyon and Seep Communities.” This interagency five (5) year, multi-million dollar study will focus 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 (figure below). 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 will be 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. Additional details on this program can be found HERE.
R/V PROTEUS
The R/V PROTEUS has been working continuously the last three (3) months on a series of projects in Grenada, Aruba, Colombia and Mexico. TDI-Brooks successfully completed projects in May and June in Grenada [three (3) site surveys with an environmental baseline survey (EBS) component], Aruba (EBS project for REPSOL through the French environmental firm, Creocean) and Colombia (ultra deep-water geotechnical project for Anadarko in COL-1 & 2). The project in Colombia demonstrated TDI-Brooks’ ability to conduct drilling conductor/jetting analyses to 4,000-m water depths. TDI-Brooks is the only Company that has a history and demonstrated ability to acquire up to 40-m CPT-Stinger and Stinger Samplers at these ultra deep-water sites.
In early July, TDI-Brooks began a series of three (3) EBS projects in the Perdido area of Mexico as follows:
- BHP through AMECFosterWheeler – Trion development (2 blocks)
- Chevron – Block 3
- Total through Creocean – Block 2
As of this date, the first two of these EBS projects have been successfully completed and the Total EBS is underway with expected completion in late August. After completion of the EBS projects in Mexico in early September, the PROTEUS will transit to Fr. Guiana for a month long EBS in that region for TOTAL/Creocean.
The next availability of the R/V PROTEUS is late October or November 2017 in NSA. We have some other projects in play for the PROTEUS in both the Suriname/Guyana area as well NW Africa in mid-4th Qtr. into 1st Qtr. The R/V PROTEUS is available for projects in Mexico, Northern South America (NSA) with other opportunities NW Africa starting mid-4th Qtr. The PROTEUS is outfitted with TDI-Brooks’ complete geotechnical tool kit including 20-m JPCs and 40-m CPT-Stinger/Sampler capabilities along with other TDI-Brooks standard SGE, HF, and 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 GYRE
The R/V GYRE is currently back in Texas after working the spot market conducting mostly EBS, site survey and geotechnical projects the last year in West Africa. The GYRE is currently in the shipyard in Port Arthur, Texas for its 5-year ABS class/loadline inspection/maintenance period and may return in the 4th Qtr. to Africa or possibly Mexico. The GYRE is outfitted for 2-D HR and analog site surveys, MBES (EM-1002), 20-m Jumbo Piston Coring (JPC), 40-m CPT-Stinger acquisition, regular geochemical and geotechnical coring, metocean, heat flow and environmental baseline studies (EBS).
In Mexico TDI-Brooks expects to conduct additional EBS projects this fall/winter either with our vessel the R/V GYRE or with our EBS kit off a Mexican 3rd Party vessel. In July, TDI-Brooks provided USBL navigational support for the ROV component of another EBS project in Mexico on a 3rd party vessel.
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. In mid-August it will begin about 6-8 weeks of projects. TDI-Brooks has been awarded a series of pipeline site surveys for Williams in the Brenton Sound and Mobile Bay areas. In late August/early September we will continue the acquisition for TGS OTOS seep-hunting project in the northern Gulf. This project is an analog to last year’s TGS Gigante project in Mexico.
This project includes the acquisition of three hundred and fifty (350) surface geochemical exploration (SGE) piston cores, twenty-five (25) Jumbo Piston Cores (JPCs) for sedimentological/age dating, and twenty-five (25) heat flow stations for thermal maturity modeling.
A short video of a bubbling oil stained cores from gas hydrate melting can be seen HERE:
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.
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.
TDI-Brooks has been awarded the EBS sampling component of an ExxonMobil project in the Black Sea that will be conducted as a subcontract through GeoQuip Marine. We will provide a five (5)-person team to acquire this EBS project in early September off a GeoQuip Marine provided vessel. Additionally TDI-Brooks has been awarded the gCPT geotechnical acquisition through CSR-Marine for a power cable route survey in the Great Lakes.
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). The last few years this has mainly been an analytical project for TDI-Brooks determining trace organics and metal contaminant concentrations in tissues (mussels and oysters) and sediments from around the US. However, this year in September/October TDI-Brooks will be again sampling with our small coastal/bay boats about sixty (60) of these long-term monitoring stations along the Gulf coast. More info HERE:
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.
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. Please let us know if you would like to schedule a meeting to learn more about our services and/or discuss chartering services on any of our TDI-Brooks’ research vessels, James M. Brooks (jimbrooks@tdi-bi.com) or Melissa Wood (melissawood@tdi-bi.com).
