A University of Aberdeen spin-out company has signed a major deal with a specialist oil and gas private equity fund.
Aberdeen-based Brinker Technology has completed a £3 million deal with Epi-V, a new specialist oil and gas private equity fund.
Epi-V has agreed the investment with Brinker Technology, which uses a unique and patented particle-based technology to remotely locate and seal leaks in oil and gas production and pipelines.
Platelet Technology® is a unique and proven concept which offers flexible solutions to provide significant cost and time savings over conventional leak sealing methods. Platelets ® are discrete particles which can be released into a pipeline at a convenient location and are carried along to the leak site by the flow in the line. When the Platelets® reach the leak site, the pressure differential across the pipe wall forces them into the leak - providing a seal and restoring integrity to the line. It was spun out of the University in 2002 to commercialise the innovative Platelet Technology®.
After developing a proof of concept, Brinker's Platelet Technology® has been successfully proven in the field. At the same time a pro-active approach to research and development has extended the use of the technology to applications in gas, water and downhole. The business has seen steady sales with revenues more than quadrupling since 2004 and the size of its addressable market is estimated to be in the region of £50 million per annum.
Customers include BP, Shell, Statoil, BG Group, CNR International, Dana Petroleum, and Norsk Hydro.
The business is set to dramatically alter the oil and gas production and pipeline infrastructure market where repairs are currently based on costly emergency work requiring direct access to the location of the leak.
Epi-V has invested £3 million for a 42% stake in the business. Prior to the completion of the deal, Francis Neill, who has 25 years of oilfield service industry experience with Schlumberger, Kvaerner and Expro, was appointed as Managing Director.
Epi-V will be working closely with management to build a strategy to quickly develop the customer-focused, commercial orientation required to successfully globalise the business and to meet increased demand from existing markets.
This includes immediate activities such as investing in new operational facilities and growing sales and front-end engineering resources to support expansion into new geographical areas and markets.
Nigel Leggett, Epi-V Partner, said: "Oil and gas pipelines are the arteries of the global economy and maintaining their integrity is vital to the success of financial systems all over the world.
"Brinker has the technology to revolutionise how production infrastructure is maintained and repaired, but this potential needs to be realised."
"The University is extremely pleased that the cutting-edge expertise and potential of one of our spinout companies has been recognised by such a leading fund specialist oil and gas private equity fund company as Epi-V.
"The original inspiration behind Brinker Technology came about when a member of the University's School of Engineering observed a natural event (blood clotting) and applied that to a practical problem (oil pipeline leaks). The links between our academic engineers and Brinker Technology continue to flourish today, and we expect them to do so in the future.
"Today's announcement is excellent news for the company and the University and I would like to thank Epi-V for the funding it is providing in support of Brinker Technology – to give us the opportunity to have a truly global presence. I hope this is the start of an extremely fruitful partnership for both organisations."
Brinker Technology is focused on creating, developing and implementing a unique brand of innovative technical solutions to promote integrity management to the pipeline industry worldwide. Based around their patented Platelet Technology® they deliver these solutions through the implementation of novel leak locating and sealing products and engineering system. The original concept for the Platelet technology came from within the School of Engineering at the University.
Francis Neill, Managing Director of Brinker Technology, said: "The founding team have done an outstanding job in developing a unique technology which has the potential to extend the life of infrastructure and provide assurance of flow through pipelines across the globe.
"We wanted to work closely with the personalities within the team. Collectively they have a huge amount of experience, understanding and skills which we can tap into to take Brinker further into the global market place."
Dr Liz Rattray, Deputy Director of the University's Research and Innovation, said: "This is tremendous news for Brinker Technology, which is carrying out ground-breaking work for the oil and gas industries.
"This latest development in the Brinker Technology success story is a testament to the hard work and enthusiasm behind the dedicated team. I am extremely pleased Epi-V has chosen to make their first investment into the North East, and in particular one of our spin-out companies from the University of Aberdeen. The University has continually striven to support spin-out activity and entrepreneurship, and Brinker is one of our success stories. I hope this new venture will be an exciting time for the two organisations to bring together expertise and resources for mutual benefit."
The £50 million Epi-V fund was launched in August 2007 with the aim of making equity investments of between £2 million and £10 million in emerging technology and service companies within the upstream services sector.