Studie on Saturation Diving in Poland and Practical Application of Their Finfings. Part 6 Selected Problems and Solutions Reported in Saturation Diving Between 2021 and 2022. Part 2

This article is a continuation of a series of publications dedicated to studies and practical use of saturation diving technology in Poland. Below, the author discusses the specificity of performing saturation dives against the economic and historical context of the country at that time. In Poland, the Department of Diving Equipment and Technology of Underwater Works (Polish abbr. ZSNiTPP) has been taking care of saturation dives carried out for the needs of the emerging offshore extraction industry for over a decade. At the same time, deep-sea diving technologies are being developed; initially, these served as the primary diving technology, and since 1994, they have complemented the comprehensive safety measures for saturation diving. Since 1995, saturation diving has become commonplace in the Polish exclusive economic zone of the Baltic Sea. This article illustrates the difficulties experienced by those who were putting saturation diving into practice during a period of economic instability when the domestic marine extraction industry’s infrastructure operated at a small scale compared to global companies. It highlights selected key figures and participants in the implementation process, which can be divided into periods of cooperation with the Italian underwater services company RANA and the execution of long-term underwater works based on domestic capabilities. The paper also considers the technical and organisational conditions for carrying out saturation dives for the Polish extraction industry. In 1990, Petrobaltic (today LOTOS), a company for the exploration and production of oil and gas played a leading role in the promotion and dissemination of saturation dives in Poland. Practical saturation diving exercises in Poland are linked to the only operational diving system of the Italian-made Af-2, which enabled scientific research into the application of new technical solutions and testing under operational conditions, as well as the development of scientific, engineering and medical personnel for the needs of the Polish offshore industry. This company played a key role in performing saturation dives in our country. The year 1995 marked a turning point in the history of saturation diving in Poland and in the Baltic Sea. This technology enabled the installation of the first two subsea production wellheads B3-7 and B3-10. Saturation dives were made possible by Petrobaltic leasing the Af-2 diving system, which was subsequently purchased by the Naval Academy in 1998. Following modernisation, this system remains in use to this day.