MintMech, a Cornwall-based engineering firm, has introduced a new heave compensation system called Active Heave Assist (AHA) to enhance marine drilling and subsea operations.

AHA offers precise heave compensation, keeping the drill bit stable within 10 cm, even in ultra-deep waters.

Unlike traditional passive systems, which can struggle with stability in soft ground and delicate operations, AHA has proven effective in challenging conditions, such as rocky seabeds in a recent West Pacific campaign.

The system can be retrofitted to existing vessels and features multiple failsafes along with an intuitive control panel, allowing drillers to adjust automation levels.

"Active Heave Assist fundamentally changes the way we can work offshore," said Jack Berryman, Cofounder of MintMech. "By retrofitting AHA to the existing passive system, we can actively control the position of the bottom hole assembly (BHA) and enable reliable core and data collection in ground and metocean conditions that previously made it practically impossible. Our ability to combine accurate BHA positional control with automated weight on bit limits is transformative."

MintMech is also working on enhancements like automatic weight-on-bit and auto-core-run controls to improve drilling performance further.