During recent decades the world has seen a decrease in coal mining, and many nations have raised concerns about the environmental impact of other types of land-based fuel sources. This has resulted in a move toward farming the sea for its rich energy sources— tidal energy, ocean energy and the piping of deepsea liquefied gas and oil. All of these resources need to be gathered with the greatest of care for the sake of the precarious oceanic environment and respect for the dangers that the oceans can pose for personnel working in these remote locations.

Fabrications placed on the seabed need to be durable and reliable to ensure the safety of personnel while avoiding any environmental disasters that could result from faulty machinery.

Highlighted below are six of the most challenging issues companies might face when producing hydraulics to be used within the subsea industry.

Remote locations

Many oil and gas wells are located off the coast of remote parts of Australia or South America, thousands of miles away from the cities where the hydraulic cylinders are manufactured. The main base is often an oil rig or floating LNG station many miles out in the sea. Beneath this base the fabrication being placed on the seabed can be hundreds of meters under water. The hydraulics used in these fabrications are among the most remote hydraulic systems in the world, and this means all hydraulic cylinders need to be precisely designed, manufactured and stringently tested to ensure they work the first time with no room for error. There is no scope for simply returning faulty machinery to the factory for repairs.

Read more: Six Unique Challenges Of Subsea Cylinders