A promotional film produced by Hi-Tech Video for the British Gas Engineering Research Station about the British Gas Subsea Engineering centre at Blyth in Northumberland. The centre, a complex of dry docks in the harbour, is where full-scale underwater testing is carried out for North Sea oil and gas exploration. The film shows some of the types of testing involved. The film opens on general views of oil rigs in the North Sea as seen from a helicopter. The film changes to show a map of the...

A promotional film produced by Hi-Tech Video for the British Gas Engineering Research Station about the British Gas Subsea Engineering centre at Blyth in Northumberland. The centre, a complex of dry docks in the harbour, is where full-scale underwater testing is carried out for North Sea oil and gas exploration. The film shows some of the types of testing involved. The film opens on general views of oil rigs in the North Sea as seen from a helicopter. The film changes to show a map of the Great Britain focusing in on the north-east coast followed by a digital image of the three dry docks that make up the British Gas Subsea Engineering centre at Blyth. General views of the largest dry dock at the engineering centre which is 140 metres long and 20 metres wide includes a large inner gate. A banner hangs over the gate that reads ‘British Gas Subsea Engineering’. A diver climbs into the dock and is filmed working on a section of pipe underwater. In the Data Acquisition Centre a man sits at the control of a video control deck recording the divers activities. The film cuts to a small cabin where the image of the diver at work appears on a number of monitors viewed by clients. A video camera along the dockside cuts to show a man logging the information that is being recorded. A diver works on a section of piping underwater, which cuts to two men cleaning and shaping a section of piping above water in a small area. A general view shows a cofferdam in the water of the dry dock followed by views of a machine used to clear seabed debris as pipework is lowered into the water. A view of a graph is followed by a view of four men on the dockside working on a machine that is used to remove concrete coatings from underwater piping. Underwater, a diver turns a valve, possibly part of the same machine. Underwater a diver works inside a cofferdam to join sections of pipework using a new memory alloy. A general view of a remote controlled vehicle used for the inspection of platforms, is lowered into the water The film cuts to show a now empty dry dock with jacket assembly equipment laid out in it, the dock is then flooded. The film changes to a view of the British Gas Engineering Research Station at Killingworth and a car driving through a security barrier. In a workshop at the research station, general views show engineers working and calibrating various sections of metal piping. An aerial view of the dry docks at Blyth is followed by engineers on the deck of a ship at sea lowering a jacket assembly into the water.  Back at Blyth a group of visitors, all wearing hard-hats, are shown a piece of equipment set up along the quayside of the dock. The film ends on a montage of images featured in the film as well as views of a large tugboat, the TNT Courier, pulling alongside the quayside and unloading a cofferdam onto the dockside. End credit: Produced by British Gas Engineering Research Station