NEL, the technical consultancy, is investing £250,000 in an erosion flow testing and assessment centre in a further vote of confidence in its Scottish operations.
The latest announcement comes just a few weeks after it confirmed a £500,000 spend on a high pressure multi-phase flow facility at its East Kilbride laboratory.
The Erosive Flow Centre (EFC), also based in the South Lanarkshire lab, is mainly aimed at operators and equipment manufacturers in the energy industry but there are potential offshoots into other sectors.
Phil Mark, sales and marketing director at NEL, said: "It is predominantly oil and gas but there is room for pipework and valves so potentially any industrial customers that have those could be interested."
The facility is said to be the first of its type in the UK and will offer a range of services including mechanical component performance assessment and computational fluid dynamics (CFD), which helps to simulate the interaction of liquids and gases with surfaces.
The EFC also includes an outside test site to accommodate larger equipment and pipework configurations.
NEL, owned by German corporation TUV SUD, expects clients to be able to reduce production costs by tackling problems caused by sand erosion.
In turn that should help to lessen the risk of equipment failing and give components a longer working life.
Areas vulnerable to erosion include bends within piping production systems or in areas of strong turbulence. Sand can also cause equipment to seize or not seal properly.
John Peters, senior consultant NEL, said: "Sand production is a growing problem for the [oil and gas] industry, as fields mature and new sand-rich fields are explored.
"Both operators and manufacturers are therefore demanding the assurance that equipment is thoroughly validated before it goes into service.
"Testing vulnerable components in realistic erosive conditions is vital. This significant investment enhances our testing capabilities to meet real world business needs for replicating the true environment to minimise production downtime and costs."
The installation and commissioning is scheduled to be completed during September.
Mr Mark said NEL will be promoting the EFC at next month's Offshore Europe trade show in Aberdeen which typically attracts more than 40,000 visitors.
If strong levels of additional business can be attracted to the new facility it may lead on to further additions to the 100-strong NEL staff at East Kilbride.
Mr Mark said: "It is clearly a show of confidence which the company has in the business here and one which plays to the strengths we have.
"Initially it is going to consolidate what we already have here. The hope would be that as we market this heavily then [we can attract more work] and be in a position where we could bring some more people in."
The installation of a £500,000 multi-phase flow facility at East Kilbride to simulate sea depths of around 600 metres was announced in July.
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