Ensuring the long-term integrity of subsea pipelines and seafloor assets is one of the most critical challenges in offshore energy operations. Traditional cathodic protection (CP) surveys often rely on intrusive methods or limited data acquisition, resulting in partial insights into corrosion risk and system performance. Ocean Floor Geophysics’ (OFG) patented integrated Cathodic Protection (iCP) technology represents a step-change in subsea asset integrity management—delivering non-intrusive, high-resolution, and spatially continuous assessments of cathodically protected systems.
The iCP system employs an innovative EMF sensing approach to detect and map the electrical and magnetic fields associated with CP currents, without requiring physical contact with the asset. This capability enables accurate characterization of CP performance of pipelines and subsea assets. By eliminating the need for direct electrical contact, iCP minimizes operational risk, reduces survey time, and allows for assessments over extensive pipeline sections and complex infrastructure.
OFG’s iCP technology can be deployed via Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) or Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs), offering flexible and scalable inspection strategies. During deployment, the system collects synchronized, high-density electromagnetic data, which are processed to generate detailed maps of current distribution and potential gradients. The result is a comprehensive and quantitative view of CP system health—providing engineers with the actionable intelligence required to evaluate system adequacy, detect anomalies, and plan proactive maintenance interventions.
The insights derived from iCP measurements extend beyond basic compliance verification. By integrating these data into advanced modeling workflows, asset integrity teams can predict coating degradation, estimate remaining CP life, and design optimized retrofit or life-extension programs based on measured, rather than assumed, performance. The technology thus bridges the gap between inspection data and engineering decision-making—supporting more sustainable, data-driven management of subsea assets throughout their operational lifecycle.
In this presentation, Ocean Floor Geophysics will showcase field results from recent iCP deployments on active subsea pipelines and production assets, illustrating the system’s ability to deliver unparalleled resolution and interpretive power. The discussion will highlight how non-intrusive CP monitoring transforms both the understanding and visualization of cathodic protection systems, setting a new benchmark for integrity assessment in the offshore sector.
