[By NBC-1TV H. J Yook]LS Cable & System (President & CEO: Jaeun Koo) announced on the 9th that the company has successfully developed for the first time in Korea an umbilical cable for operating deep sea ROVs (remotely operated vehicles).

This cable is essential for deep sea resources development as it supplies both power and communication signals to ROVs to operate the robot arms, sensors, cameras and drive and steering systems.

The umbilical cable is a composite cable consisting of a 4.5kV power cable to supply power to the drive system of an ROV, a 3.3kV cable to supply power to the ancillary systems, and two optical fiber cables for the control systems. Designed to endure extreme conditions under the sea, such as high water pressure and vacillating tidal currents, this product integrates the world’s best technologies to withstand 100 tons of tensile stress to enable operation even at 6,000m under the sea.

In 2007, Korea had already developed an unmanned undersea vehicle for deep sea mineral resources exploration and polar study capable of depths of 6,000m as the fourth in the world following the U.S., France and Japan. However, cables that can be used to operate at such depths were produced only by a few companies in Europe and America, thus Korea was entirely dependent upon imports to meet the requirement. As localization of this umbilical cable has been completed, LS Cable & System has not only secured price competitiveness, but also reduced the delivery period compared to competitors.

The Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology reports that, while competition for deepwater undersea resources is growing fiercely in each country as natural resources on land are being depleted, Korea has secured exploration rights in four deep sea drilling sites measuring 112,000km2, which is larger than the size of South Korea (approx. 100,000km2). Extracting of oil and natural gas is scheduled to commence next year. It is expected that the annual construction of deep sea ROVs (mostly for oil and natural gas exploration) will increase from around 620 in 2011 to approx. 1,000 in 2015. Naturally, a significant increase in the demand for umbilical cables and ancillary systems is also expected. (Source: “The World ROV Market Forecast 2011-2015”: Report by Douglas Westwood)

“Since establishment of our Donghae Plant in 2009, LS Cable & System has continuously been building our marine cable development competencies. We have also secured sufficient production facilities,” explained LS Cable & System Senior Vice President Dongwuk Kim. He emphasized, “We will accelerate not only our local market entry, but also development of the advanced global markets in Europe and America by additionally developing a wide range of products, such as oil & gas cables, tether and armored cables for which a high level of ocean engineering technologies is required in order to establish diverse operating environments and to satisfy customers’ various needs in the future.”