A SPECIALIST in corrosion, integrity and inspection has launched an online centre of excellence for the oil and gas industry.
Aberdeen-based iicorr is making an investment of more than £150,000 in the venture.
The site is aimed at helping to raise asset-integrity standards internationally and promoting the sector to engineering students.
Iicorr technical director Mark Wilson said: “The centre of excellence will have two distinct streams. The first is the knowledge bank, containing a library of documents covering processes on integrity work at all international locations.
“The second part is that we will have a large team of experts available to answer specific technical questions with a fast response time.”
The firm has entered into a collaboration agreement with the Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen and is in talks with other universities in the UK and at key locations for the oil and gas industry including Perth, in Australia, and Houston, in America.
The intention is to liaise with the academic bodies and industry organisations to help build knowledge by using the intelligence generated by the site.
Professor John Watson, dean of RGU’s faculty of design and technology, said: “We pride ourselves on the university’s close links with industry and this project is a prime example of how students in asset-integrity management will benefit from working on real industry problems.”
Access to the centre will be free for academic partners and their students, while firms will have to pay an annual subscription.