Bolton risk specialist opens Saudi joint venture

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12:00 pm, February 8, 2010
Bolton risk specialist opens Saudi joint venture

A Bolton-based engineering company which works with the petrochemical sector to help it to reduce risk has opened up a new operation in Saudi Arabia.

PP Simtech has set up a joint venture company in the Kingdom with an Indian partner to provide risk assessment reports to help firms to meet inspection costs more effectively.

It has developed a risk-based inspection (RBI) process which finds the best inspection interval for each piece of equipment, allowing for shorter and less frequent shutdowns with improved safety and reliability during operation.

This means fewer plant-wide shutdowns, which can save clients millions of pounds, according to the firm's managing director Ron Selva.

“An industry survey shows that around 80 per cent of equipment items in these plants are over-inspected, but over-inspection does not necessarily mean improved safety,” said Selva, who founded the company nearly 14 years ago. “An improvement in safety and plant reliability requires knowledge of how equipment deteriorates and knowing where, how and when to look for it.

“Some refinery plants produce over 300,000 barrels of oil each day and these sell at $60 a barrel, so there is a lot of money lost during a shutdown. Under past inspection practice, governed by national legislation, a shutdown was required for inspection at set intervals whether you liked it or not - you inspected items that didn't need to be inspected.”

The firm is embarking on its Saudi Arabian venture with India-based engineering company TCR. The two began discussing a joint venture company and PP Simtech received advice from the UKTI North West's Strategic Alliance Service to get it off the ground.

“We wanted to secure our intellectual property and needed to ensure that any venture we entered into with another company was water-tight. UKTI provided consultants to work with us on this.”

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