Alliance with Rigblast USA TÜV SÜD America Inc. Acquires PetroChem Inspection Services, Inc. of Houston, TX

Release#: 3-05
Contact: Shelby Morris
Phone: (713) 926-9936
Email:Shelby_Morris@PetroChemIntl.com
Website: www.PetroChemIntl.com
 Contact: Eddie Clay
Phone: (281) 313-9400
Email:Eddie.Clay@rigblastusa.com
Website:www.rigblastusa.com
 

PETROCHEM INSPECTION SERVICES AND RIGBLAST USA  LLC ANNOUNCE ALLIANCE 

 March 5, 2003 – Houston, Texas. PetroChem Inspection Services and Rigblast LLC announced a partnership agreement to provide inspection services using rope access. Spokesmen from both firms voiced confidence that the combination of inspection services using rope access will result in significant cost and time savings for petrochemical companies.  Refineries and chemical processing plants routinely evaluate fitness for service of their operating equipment, and periodically do plant-wide shutdowns for periods from weeks to months.  Traditionally, inspectors use scaffolding to provide entry for inspection personnel.   Eddie Clay, President of Rigblast stated “We believe customers will save days of downtime during a shutdown by using this system to gain access for inspection.”  Shelby Morris, President of PetroChem Inspection Services said “The safety record of Rigblast (no recordable incidents in over 500,000 hours worked) gives us confidence that our inspectors will be able to perform the same high quality work on ropes that we supply on stationery scaffolding.” PetroChem Inspection Services is a 30-year old Houston-based company that supplies process safety management inspection services as well as non-destructive testing to the petrochemical industry. Rigblast, based in the UK with US headquarters in Houston, supplies a variety of plant maintenance services using scaffolding as well as rope access.  Their rope access division, based in Houston, will train and certify PetroChem’s API inspection personnel to work without scaffolding using sophisticated rigging to inspect limited access areas within the refining or chemical processing facility.                                                                      

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