Shell invests in Finnish Rocsole

Shell Technology Ventures has made an investment in Finnish Rocsole, which specialises in real-time tomography for oil and gas industries.

Spanish oil company Repsol led Rocsole’s previous funding round in early 2016.

The additional funding allows Kuopio-based Rocsole to expand its product portfolio with a smart deposition pig sensor that enables efficient deposition monitoring of a customer’s entire pipe network from the inside. With detailed information on pipe deposits, operators can prevent pipes clogging that can lead to lost production costing millions of dollars in down-time and from the use of chemicals to clean the blocked pipe. Efficient deposition monitoring can also significantly reduce the number of pigging runs thereby reducing the overall cost of remediation.

”Roscole’s smart pig sensor could change the way we inspect subsea pipelines by allowing us to quickly obtain flow and deposition insights using their non-invasive and accurate analytics,” STV Managing Director Geert van de Wouw, said in a statement.

“Their tomographic imaging techniques mean that measurements can be conducted from inside the actual pipe without damaging or disturbing it. Technology that can reduce down-time and optimise production is critical for Shell operations, both for on- and offshore,” he said.

“We had a big funding round …. We are talking about several millions, but we cannot unveil the exact amount,” Rocsole chairman Anssi Lehikoinen was quoted as saying in local newspaper Savon Sanomat.