The move, which follows Furmanite’s acquisition last year of Flowserve GSG including Ipsco, builds on Furmanite’s substantial existing hot tapping and line stopping capability, to offer a comprehensive, high quality and reliable pipeline support service for plant and pipelines onshore and subsea, including pipeline intervention (hot tapping, line plugging and pipe freezing), hydrotesting, pigging and other services, including emergency support. Available alongside Furmanite’s range of on-site and on-line services from pressure leak sealing and composite repairs to on-site machining, bolting, and on-line valve testing, this represents a service offering unsurpassed in Australia.

“The acquisition amalgamates Pipeline Support’s significant pipeline intervention experience, expertise and service support capability with our world-recognised Furmanite Ipsco technology and expertise, enabling us to offer a total pipeline support and maintenance package with local service and expertise, coupled with the substantial resources and backing of a global organisation,” Furmanite Australia and New Zealand general manager Zac Reark comments.

“We have also gained valuable, skilled and experienced personnel, including Jim Sayers as Furmanite pipeline intervention manager, enabling us to deliver this service with a high level of customer support,” he adds. “With an impressive 52 years’ combined background in pipeline intervention and support, Jim Sayers and Ross Grant (now pipeline intervention support co-ordinator with Furmanite) originally worked with the Gas and Fuel Corporation, moving on to set up Pipeline Support in 1996 to focus in depth on developing and delivering this service area. Their engineering and technical expertise, developed over years of association with the oil, gas, water and petrochemical industries, is unrivalled in the sector and is now available to Furmanite customers as part of our pipeline support and maintenance service.”

Hot tapping, line stopping and pipe freezing allow maintenance and modifications to pipelines and piping systems to be undertaken while system pressure is maintained, without interrupting operation, with the obvious advantage of avoiding downtime and the inherent cost savings that brings. The techniques may be applied onshore, offshore or subsea to isolate a section of live pipeline or system, typically to undertake repairs (emergency or planned), change out a malfunctioning valve or instrument, add branch connections, or re-route a pipeline.

Additionally, Furmanite can provide an emergency support service on a 24/7 call-out basis, to provide pipeline intervention services as required in case of emergency.

“We see this development both as an exciting opportunity for Furmanite and offering significant advantages to pipeline owners and operators in the Australasian region, who will now be able to benefit from a total support service package option that is second to none, from a renowned service provider who can also offer a range of additional technical services as required,” Reark says. “We’re looking forward to working with and assisting all players in the pipeline field.”

NOTES TO EDITORS
Furmanite, the technical services company geared to maximising asset uptime, is headquartered in Dallas, USA, with offices and service centres in Australia, Asia Pacific, USA, UK, Europe, Scandinavia, the Caspian region and the Middle East. It offers a wide range of on-site and on-line services and technologies to help industry operators around the world keep their assets earning, minimise downtime and maximise production efficiency. Services, all delivered by highly qualified multi-disciplined technicians, include on-line pressure leak sealing, pipeline intervention (hot tapping, line plugging and pipe freezing), on-site machining, on-line valve testing and repair, Pressurized Systems Integrity Management and controlled bolting, and composite repair, among others. The company also specialises in designing and developing bespoke engineered solutions to meet specific requirements.

For further press information please contact:

Sarah Manwaring-White, Keep in Touch Ltd,
Tel: +44 (0)1451 844 488  
Email: sarah_mw@keepintouch.co.uk

Issued on behalf of Furmanite Australia
www.furmanite.com