Oil and gas industry in the Gulf of Mexico faces enormous challenges to discover, explore and
exploit hydrocarbons reserves in new deep waters fields; among them is the integrity
management of its pipeline infrastructure. One of the biggest threats for the integrity of subsea
steel-pipeline structures is external corrosion. While cathodic protection (CP) is a reliable
control-mitigation technology for corrosion prevention, the aggressive environment existing in
seawater conditions drives the selection of current technologies and tools for assessing the CP
systems. The identification and characterization of tools and technologies to monitor CP
performance has lead to the development of more accurate, practical and flexible ways to
assess the effectiveness of a CP system. Among the technologies used to survey the surface
of a subsea pipeline, the Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) is the one that resolves potential
and current density parameters for CP inspection. Recently, the development of computers
has lead to the outcome of powerful analytical tools for the characterization of important
parameters influencing the effectiveness of CP in subsea. In this work the current and past
technologies to monitor the level and/or effectiveness of CP are reviewed. Proposed strategies
to assess corrosion control monitoring and inspection procedures of subsea pipelines in the
Gulf of Mexico are included.
Key words: Remote Operated Vehicle, seawater cathodic protection, subsea corrosion