Presenting IGU’s New Members

v  COM-therm’s business

spans thermal-power engineering, natural gas and renewables.

At the Council meeting in Cartagana, Colombia in October, IGU welcomed three new Associate Members. Here is a brief introduction to the companies.

COM-therm

Founded in September 2003, COM-therm is the operator of the municipal heating system of Komárno in Slovakia. The company now runs 19 heat-generation stations, 19 heattransfer stations and an extensive heatdistribution network throughout the town. It supplies approximately 10,000 housing units with 370,000 GJ of energy per year, while also providing warm service water (WSW) for property-owner associations, educational facilities, pre-school centres and the trade network.

The aim of COM-therm is to provide a high-quality thermal power supply to its customers using modern technologies of thermal-power engineering. These are gradually being installed in all the company’s facilities. There is a focus, too, on natural gas and renewables, so COM-therm intends to participate in the IGU’s Research & Development and Innovation Committee.

Since 2014, the company has also been involved with research and development in trigeneration, the highly efficient, combined production of electricity, heat and cooling (CCHP). It is made possible by connecting a hot water absorption chiller unit to combined heat and power (CHP) technology, in combination with waste heat recovery (WHR) technology. The combined generation of heat and electricity can reduce the amount of fuel used by 40%, which, from a financial perspective, means a cost benefit to the customer. And as heat and electricity are generated on the site of usage, the price of long-distance distribution, with its inherent loss of energy (around 10%), can be avoided.

COM-therm is committed to the efficiency of heat and WSW consumption, development of conditions favourable to the adjustability of that consumption and assistance in creating an energetic conception of Komárno itself.

For more information, visit www.comtherm.sk

Energodiagnostika

Formed in 2003 and based in Moscow, Energodiagnostika is one of the world’s leading expert diagnostic centres specializing in technical diagnostics, industrial safety expert appraisal, repair and maintenance of gas and oil industrial facilities, equipment and structures. It provides a full range of technology driven inspection services using conventional and advanced non-destructive testing (NDT) methods, third-party inspection (TPI), industrial safety expert evaluation, design engineering, commissioning and repair services.

The company’s vision is to be a recognized leader of the inspection-services industry. Being

a leader means maintaining operational excellence, customer satisfaction and superior financial performance, and achieving profitable growth through superior service, innovation and commitment. Energodiagnostika is a growing company that confidently faces the future, looking for further opportunities, maintains high standards of work and its firm position in the domestic and international markets.

Its mission is to provide inspection and other services in a safe, efficient and environmentally sound manner. Satisfying customers with the appropriate level of quality is a primary goal and a fundamental element of its business operations. Energodiagnostika is a results-oriented company that builds value for its shareholders through an atmosphere of teamwork, creativity and resourcefulness and by dealing with people in an open and ethical manner.

Energodiagnostika has modern inspection and maintenance equipment from Russian, European and American manufacturers (it has more than 1,500 pieces of tooling and equipment in total). The company is constantly expanding its application range and investing in new equipment for advanced NDT methods like Time of Flight Diffraction (TOFD) and LongRange Ultrasonic Testing (LRUT) – indeed, several types of NDT equipment have been manufactured by Energodiagnostika.

The company particularly prides itself on over 70 patents and pilot projects, including automated surveillance systems for potentially dangerous units: the system for controlling under-road and under-railway pipeline crossings (SKP21), and the system for control and regulation of pipeline support structures (SKR4), which also monitors the strain-stress distribution of potentially dangerous pipeline segments. The results of the company’s research are widely used in the field.

Energodiagnostika is well experienced in offshore projects: the Prirazlomnaya iceresistant fixed rig, jack-up drilling rigs Arkticheskaya and Amazon, a semi-submersible

drilling rig for the Shtokman project, the Ob-1 floating drilling unit (here the company provided cabling, electrical installation, commissioning of the drilling and processing zones; developing, agreeing and receiving authorization for the beginning of operation, etc.).

Ensuring environmental safety is one of the company priorities; here, the company offers services for industrial environmental monitoring of construction and upgrading projects for the oil and gas industry, research and analysis of the sensitivity of natural objects, assessment of the impact of industrial projects on the environment, compliance assessment of industrial design solutions with environmental legislation; developing the standards for maximum allowable pollutant emissions into the atmosphere.

Together with foreign microbiologists the company is developing an innovative method of using natural microorganisms (methanotrophic bacteria or methanotrophs) to minimize ecological risk by preventing dangerous methane concentration in the near-the-ground atmosphere.

As an active member of the World Wildlife Fund Business Club since 2012 Energodiagnostika has supported nature conservation projects.

The business has sufficient resources to fulfil clients’ requirements, including the development of regulatory and technical documentation. The company achieved its flagship position thanks to highly experiences scientists and managers, who quickly solve complex technical challenges.

With more than 600 skilled employees – many of whom have over 25 years of

c  Energodiagnostika aims

to be a recognized leader in the inspection-services industry.

v  Regas’ INGRID

gas odorization system ensures odorization uniformity in any conditions.

experience on complex oil and gas projects – and modern equipment, Energodiagnostika has the resources to support the inspection needs of the client, whether they are large-scope projects or time-sensitive call-out jobs. For many years, the company has been successfully providing services and solutions that optimize customer performance for more than 100 clients worldwide. Activities extend not only to JSC Gazprom-affiliated companies but also to other customers’ facilities. Regular customers include Gazprom, AK Transneft, Gazflot, Vyborg Shipyard, Rosneft, LUKOIL, SPO Sevmash, SPO Arktika, Zvezdochka Ship Repair Center, Gazprom Neft Shelf, Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd, the Beijing company (a subsidiary of PetroChina), Latvijas Gaze, and others.

We believe that active participation in the IGU working committees, the opportunity to work with technical, commercial and strategic experts from all over the world on the most pressing issues facing the natural gas industry, networking and educational opportunities, interaction, cultural and social experiences will provide significant added value for our company and employees. More importantly, it will give an impetus to further development of the gas industry in both Russia and the world.

For more information, visit www.gazpromenergy.ru

Regas

The Italian partner of major public utilities, Regas provides products and services dedicated to gas-distribution networks. Established in 1998, it has become one of the reference companies between natural-gas distributors. Its turnover is constantly growing and its product and service range is widening.

Since its foundation, Regas’ core business has been designing and manufacturing gasdecompression and measurement stations and the supply of equipment related to gas regulation. Through the years, Regas has built

its skills to compete in the natural-gas odorization market, becoming the Italian market leader in gas-odorization technologies. Its direct-injection odorization system has been designed and patented by Regas and is the only system that is able to inject the exact amounts of odorants per square metre of natural gas. This guarantees the correct odorization in low capacity or continuous fluctuations of capacity.

Regas is also capable of developing custom-made solutions. Its know-how in the natural-gas distribution market is what matters to its customers, and this has been the key to Regas’ success.

Progress is vitally important in the naturalgas sector. With this in mind, Regas continually improves its existing skills while embracing innovation in order to promote company and market growth. Its commitment aims to create close relationships with customers, suppliers, unions, societies, universities and research centres and its hope is that any relationship can become a partnership.

In Regas’ view, it is essential to care about customers’ needs as a guidance for innovation and evolution, and to propose the best solutions for system and network safety. This enhances quality and safety and assists with protecting the environment. Regas is inspired by environmental-protection principles, believing it is a base from which all company employees can work from.