Saipem demonstrates subsea carbon-storage monitoring technology at Trieste
The COREu visit brought more than 70 participants to demonstrations of autonomous inspection and subsea sensing systems.
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- First published on EPC Feed
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Saipem demonstrated technologies for monitoring offshore carbon dioxide transport and storage infrastructure at its Trieste base, according to an announcement dated 15 October 2026. The visit formed part of the annual meeting of COREu, a European research and industrial collaboration focused on carbon capture, utilisation and storage. Industrial partners, researchers, institutions and other European stakeholders attended the event, which connected discussions about deployment policy with demonstrations of equipment intended for use beneath the sea.
More than 70 visitors watched the deployment of FlatFish, Saipem's autonomous underwater vehicle. The company explained that the vehicle can carry equipment for detecting potential carbon dioxide leaks in offshore environments. Its proposed role combines inspection of subsea infrastructure with collection of seabed data. That makes the demonstration relevant to both storage-site surveillance and the monitoring of transport networks connecting industrial carbon capture facilities with offshore storage locations.
COREu is funded through Horizon Europe and coordinated by SINTEF Energy Research. Saipem said the consortium includes more than 40 industrial and scientific partners. Its contribution covers storage-site monitoring, underwater leak detection and offshore microseismic monitoring. The technologies described include the Hydrone robotic platform, which incorporates FlatFish, and Seanapsys, a subsea system for acquiring, processing and transmitting data between points. These are complementary parts of the monitoring chain rather than interchangeable names for a single instrument.
The visit also introduced other Hydrone capabilities for inspection, monitoring and surveillance, including support for rapid emergency response. Saipem presented autonomous vehicles, sensing equipment and data handling as tools that could support the safety and reliability of future carbon-management infrastructure. The announcement concerns a demonstration and research programme; it does not identify a newly awarded commercial carbon-storage construction contract or announce that a storage project has entered operation.
For infrastructure developers, the source-specific distinction is the focus on observation after equipment is installed offshore. The demonstrated systems address how operators might inspect assets and identify changing conditions around subsea facilities. The release places that work within a wider effort to develop safe and scalable carbon transport and storage networks. It provides evidence of a technology demonstration and an active consortium contribution, while the performance of any eventual commercial deployment would depend on the requirements and conditions of the individual project.
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