Welshpool oil specialist forms joint venture
A science specialist which helps companies map oil reserves around the world has partnered with another business to launch a joint venture.
Hafren Scientific, which includes Chemostrat and Origin Analytical in Welshpool, has formed a joint venutre with PetroStrat, whose headquarters is in Conwy North Wales, to form of a joint venture company called Future Geoscience Ltd.
The new business will offer specialised geological services and products for the oil industry.
Dr Tim Pearce, chief executive of Hafren, said: “PetroStrat and Chemostrat have a long history of collaboration, however the JV brings together probably the largest and most experienced biostratigraphy and chemostratigraphy service companies in the world with the aim of providing comprehensive, integrated stratigraphy solutions for our clients.
"These products will be unrivalled in the industry and can be deployed throughout the oil exploration – production cycle.”
Paul Cornick, managing director of PetroStrat, added: “Both Hafren and PetroStrat have considerable in-house laboratory capability and capacity facilitating the JV with a source of high quality data and interpretations on commercial timeframes, providing our clients a unique opportunity to acquire fully integrated data-rich geological solutions to help de-risk their operations."
In 2014 Chemostrat opened a £500,000 extension to its offices at the Buttington Cross Enterprise Park. The company's method uses furnaces to melt rock samples at more than 1,000 degrees, before dissolving them in acid and handing them to specialists to analyse.
It is then matched to other samples from nearby to help map the size, depth and shape of oil reservoirs around the world.
The oil industry has been faced with low prices since early 2015, but has begun to see them creep up again.
Hafren chairman Dr Carol Bell said: “The oil industry is slowly recovering, and Future Geoscience combines the strengths of two world leading Welsh companies to provide a new focal point for investment, innovation and jobs.
"This will help reinforce Wales as a global player in the oil services sector."
Dr Pearce added: “Hafren wish to thank the Development Bank of Wales for their support in the Group’s growth plans."
