Vessel conversion project by Cochin shipyard

Kochi: The public sector Cochin Shipyard is at present executing a project for converting a fishing vessel into a seismic survey ship.

The work is for a Norwegian oil exploration firm based in Singapore. The scheduled delivery of the ship will be by the end of September.

The vessel will be used for under sea oil exploration and this is the first time that an Indian yard is constructing such a vessel, CSL officials said.

They said the prospects for building/conversion of this type of vessels are very high in the future and CSL is hopeful of getting more such contracts in the near future.

The seismic survey ships are equipped to detect large-scale geological characteristics of seabed and are helpful in exploration of oil and natural gas.

The vessels are used by major oil companies to analyse the waves in the seabed to detect petroleum resources.

There will be a device in the ship which produces different types of sound waves. These waves travel to the seabed and touch various layers and reflect back.

By analysing the waves with the help of computers, it can be detected whether there are energy resources.