STATS Group Announces New UK Facility

STATS Group has opened a new Intervention Engineering and Technical Support hub and recruited two of the energy industry’s leading experts in pipeline intervention services.

The Aberdeenshire-headquartered pipeline engineering specialist has invested in a new facility in Kendal, Cumbria,(U.K.), which will be the focus of its technical and operational support, coupled with research and development work for its hot tap and BISEP* product lines.

The 2,500-square-foot office and research base is headed up by Martin Wilson in the newly created post of Director of Intervention Services, and he is supported by Dr. Mark Burton, Technical Director of Intervention Services.

Martin Wilson spent 23 years with Furmanite, working predominantly in the pipeline intervention and integrity sectors in a variety of roles. During that time he led Furmanite’s U.K. design team, was Technical Group Manager and latterly Global Technical Support Director for Pipeline Intervention, supporting the development and expansion of the company’s $70 million Pipeline Intervention service line.

With a mechanical engineering Ph.D, Mark Burton is a former lecturer at Southampton University’s Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science. Over a period of 21 years he has held various senior engineering positions with the Furmanite Group, including U.K. Engineering Manager and most recently Global Director of Engineering.  

STATS Group chief executive officer, Pete Duguid, said, “This is an exciting development and the role of our Intervention Engineering hub will be to fast-track the development of our hot tap and BISEP product lines. The recruitment of Martin and Mark is a major coup for STATS and underlines how serious we are about being market leaders in hot tap and pipeline intervention solutions.

“This investment in the Kendal facility follows an earlier £1 million commitment to a new training center at our Kintore headquarters and an additional facility in Inverurie which now houses our Process Plant Solutions business. Together, these investments demonstrate our determination to significantly grow our business and to extend our reputation in the international pipeline integrity sector.”

Martin Wilson said, “Joining STATS offered the chance to join a dynamic, innovative and vibrant engineering-led company with intervention industry-leading technologies that have already started to change the way clients and competitors think.”

Mark Burton added: “I’m delighted to take up this role and to be leading a team of highly capable engineers and designers within the field of pipeline intervention equipment. STATS already has a unique position through its BISEP tool, which is the only true double block and bleed branch installed isolation device in the market.

“STATS Group has huge growth potential founded on superior technology, and our long term goal is to strengthen our position as the most technically advanced provider of hot tapping and pipeline intervention services in the oil and gas sector.”