Tracerco is an oil and gas services business owned by London based investment firm Sullivan Street Partners.

History

In 1958, Imperial Chemical Industries ( ICI) established a division to research the use of

ionizing radiation Ionizing (ionising) radiation, including Radioactive decay, nuclear radiation, consists of subatomic particles or electromagnetic waves that have enough energy per individual photon or particle to ionization, ionize atoms or molecules by detaching ...

within

chemical process In a scientific sense, a chemical process is a method or means of somehow changing one or more chemicals or chemical compounds. Such a chemical process can occur by itself or be caused by an outside force, and involves a chemical reaction of som ...

es. They found it was not possible to use it as a

catalyst Catalysis () is the increase in rate of a chemical reaction due to an added substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed by the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recycles quick ...

, but found it could be used to assess/diagnose within the chemical process, typically ahead of plant turnarounds. In the 1960s the division was named Physics and

Radioisotope A radionuclide (radioactive nuclide, radioisotope or radioactive isotope) is a nuclide that has excess numbers of either neutrons or protons, giving it excess nuclear energy, and making it unstable. This excess energy can be used in one of three ...

Services, performing flow studies, heat exchanger leakage tests and column scans on a

chemical plant A chemical plant is an industrial process plant that manufactures (or otherwise processes) chemicals, usually on a large scale. The general objective of a chemical plant is to create new material wealth via the chemical or biological transfor ...

in the UK. To support the work being done in hazardous areas, a range of Intrinsically safe

radiation In physics, radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or a material medium. This includes: * ''electromagnetic radiation'' consisting of photons, such as radio waves, microwaves, infr ...

monitors were developed. Most of this early work was later recorded by Peter Jackson. In 1967, the first nuclear gauge was developed to measure the level within a vessel at Billingham chemical works. The Specialist Measurement Instruments section was established with a variety of level, trip, and

Nuclear density gauge Nuclear densitometry is a technique used in civil construction and the petroleum industry, as well as for mining and archaeology purposes, to measure the density and inner structure of the test material. The processes uses a nuclear density gauge, ...

s, commonly used in applications such as slug catchers and separation vessels. A

General Atomics General Atomics (GA) is an American energy and defense corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, that specializes in research and technology development. This includes physics research in support of nuclear fission and nuclear fusion en ...

Triga 250 kW Mark 1

nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a Nuclear fission, fission nuclear chain reaction. They are used for Nuclear power, commercial electricity, nuclear marine propulsion, marine propulsion, Weapons-grade plutonium, weapons ...

was operated from 1971 to 1998. This was used to create short half-life

radioisotopes A radionuclide (radioactive nuclide, radioisotope or radioactive isotope) is a nuclide that has excess numbers of either neutrons or protons, giving it excess nuclear energy, and making it unstable. This excess energy can be used in one of three ...

for use in chemical plant diagnostics, sample analysis and forensic work. In the 1970s, the business supported the development of the

North Sea oil North Sea oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons, comprising liquid petroleum and natural gas, produced from petroleum reservoirs beneath the North Sea. In the petroleum industry, the term "North Sea" often includes areas such as the Norwegian ...

industry, selling a range of services and nucleonic gauges. In the 1980s, bases were established in

Aberdeen, Scotland Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeenshire, but is now separate from the council area of Aberdeenshire. Aberd ...

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

Sarnia, Ontario Sarnia is a city in Lambton County, Ontario, Canada. It had a Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population of 72,047, and is the largest city on Lake Huron. Sarnia is located on the eastern bank of the junction between the Upper and Lower Great Lakes, ...

and

Edmonton, Alberta Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

Subsea Subsea technology involves fully submerged ocean equipment, operations, or applications, especially when some distance offshore, in deep ocean waters, or on the seabed. The term ''subsea'' is frequently used in connection with oceanography, marin ...

gauges were developed for

grout Grout is a dense substance that flows like a liquid yet hardens upon application, often used to fill gaps or to function as reinforcement in existing structures. Grout is generally a mixture of water, cement, and sand, and is frequently employe ...

monitoring. A subsea nucleonic gauge level system was developed for

Texaco Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American Petroleum, oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its Gasoline, fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an Independ ...

Highlander Slug Catcher Tartan tieback, as well as techniques to assess and diagnose fluid catalytic cracking units. In the 1990s, a range of Flooded Member Inspection and Pipeline Inspection Gauge (PIG) Tracking services were used in pipeline

pigging In pipeline transportation, pigging is the practice of using pipeline inspection gauges or gadgets, devices generally referred to as pigs or scrapers, to perform various maintenance operations. This is done without stopping the flow of the pr ...

campaigns. Tracer technologies were developed to allow oil companies to characterize fluid flow in oil and gas reservoirs and inside production wells. The Tracerco Profiler entered the market in 2000. This Nuclear density gauge allows customers to see into their separator. This product received the Queen's Award for Innovation in 2003. In 2007, this instrument was deployed on Statoil's Tordis module, the world's first subsea oil and gas production facility. Imperial Chemical Industries sold the group to

Johnson Matthey Johnson Matthey plc is a British multinational speciality chemicals and sustainable technologies company headquartered in London, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History Early year ...

in 2002. The 2000s saw international expansion once again when Tracerco bought the Process Diagnostics division of QuestTruTec in 2006 to become the largest supplier of nucleonic diagnostic services currently in operation. Regional expansion then followed with offices opening in

Perth, Australia Perth () is the capital city of Western Australia. It is the fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The world's most isolated major city by certain criteria, Perth is part of the ...

Baku, Azerbaijan Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

and

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...

. In 2009, Tracerco announced the acquisition of Belgium-based Process Vision Services (PVS). The acquisition facilitated the provision of Tracerco's more extensive range of process tracing and characterization technologies amongst clients throughout the refining and petrochemical industry in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

. Also in 2009, Tracerco was awarded its third

Queen's Award for Enterprise Queens is a borough of New York City. Queens or Queen's may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * Queens (group), a Polish musical group * "Queens" (song), a 2018 song by Saara Aalto * ''Queens'' (novel), by Stephen Pickles, 1984 * "Queens", ...

. This was for the innovation of its radiation monitoring instruments that are certified with intrinsic safety. Discovery, the world's first subsea technology to provide medical grade

CT scan A computed tomography scan (CT scan), formerly called computed axial tomography scan (CAT scan), is a medical imaging technique used to obtain detailed internal images of the body. The personnel that perform CT scans are called radiographers or ...

information for pipeline inspection, was launched to the world's oil and gas industry in 2013. Discovery can measure pipe wall thickness through any type of pipeline coating to allow operators to make decisions about the short, medium and long term future of a subsea pipeline.

Business Operations

The company has 8 business areas: * Instrumentation to provide Nucleonic measurement solutions, including level, density and interface measurement, which are certified for installation in hazardous areas and

subsea Subsea technology involves fully submerged ocean equipment, operations, or applications, especially when some distance offshore, in deep ocean waters, or on the seabed. The term ''subsea'' is frequently used in connection with oceanography, marin ...

. * Process Diagnostics to diagnose production problems using measurement technology. * Subsea Technologies to monitor flow assurance and the integrity of subsea assets. * Radiation Monitors to measure radiation dose rate or characterize process and environmental contaminants. * Radiation Protection Advice and Radiation Protection Supervisor Training to promote client operational safety and compliance with national and international Radiological legislation. * Reservoir Characterization to optimize the recovery of hydrocarbons from both new and mature reservoirs. * Analytical Services including standard and customized diagnostics. * Fuel Security provides a range of unique covert molecular markers, which are tailored to suit the application.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Tracerco's Official homepage
Companies based in County Durham

History

Business Operations

See also

References

External links