TRAC issues long service awards each year to staff in recognition of their achievements, commitment and loyalty to our business. We are proud of our staff retention rates and retaining extensive knowledge, skills and experience is key to moving us forward in the current market conditions and beyond.

People have always been at the centre of TRAC and our values which include loyalty, achievement and personal development. Our Investors in People accreditation also acknowledges TRAC to be a positive and enjoyable place to work where we get the best performance from both our office and field staff.

For 2021 we would like to recognise the following employees who are celebrating 5 years of service with TRAC Oil & Gas, thank you for your continued service and commitment to the company.

Frances Chalmers, Technical Consultant of Plant Integrity Management Ltd, continued the proceedings with a ‘Whistle-stop tour of CUI Management” including CUPS (corrosion under pipe supports), and reviewed the key regulator recommendations of the HSE-led CUI forum held on 31^st May, which were:

Regulator Viewpoint, point 1

• Establish an effective CUI management scheme.
• Meeting good practice alone may not be sufficient to comply with the law (avoidance of prosecution in the event of an incident and/or issue of HSE improvement notice). i.e. The installation must remain safe in all respects.

Regulator Viewpoint, point 2

• Do what you say you’re going to do.
• Be clear about progress and CUI priorities.

Regulator Viewpoint, point 3

• Conduct suitable inspection at a frequency to permit detection and remediation of deterioration in good time.

Frances went on to describe CUI management strategies in great detail for asset early life, mid-life, and late-life situations, and RBI approaches, in consideration of all key factors and noting that CUI corrosion rate data can vary significantly for individual plants and locations (operating environments). A traffic light system was proposed for insulation anomalies and for assessing the degree of damage and risk.  The manner in which a CUI defect finally failures being most usually related to its operating pressure, i.e. sudden burst or weep/seep.[doesn’t quite read right, can you clarify] Frode Wiggen, Snr. Principal Engineer DNV, closed the morning session with a “virtual’ presentation and outlined the new DNV CUI Manager software, for managing the significant threats posed by CUI, developed under a joint industry project, resulting in DNVGL-RP-G109,  methodology that facilitates structured continuous assessment and documentation of present and future CUI risk. This new project was first outlined at the SPE Corrosion Conference in June 2021, and may be found at https://www.spe-aberdeen.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Thurs_DNVGL-RP-G109-presentation-rev-1.pdf

In the afternoon and after catering courtesy of our hosts, delegates were treated to an excellent series of NDT demonstrations highlighting the very latest technologies deployed in the energy and other sectors by TRAC, who are long-time supporters of the branch and its technical programme.

The event went off successfully and the branch are extremely grateful to TRAC for their hard work in making it possible for everyone.

The successful Corrosion Forum approach of blended learning (virtual, plus face-to-face teaching), will surely continue in the years ahead, as we all seek to avoid unnecessary travel, in the desire by all to meet ever stricter environmental targets and avoid further pandemics.

All the technical papers for the event can be found at, https://sites.google.com/site/icorrabz/ and also at Aberdeen Branch – Institute of Corrosion (icorr.org) under “Local Technical Programme, August 2021”.

A reminder that the branch is inviting applications for the 2020 ICorr Young Engineer Programme (YEP), which it is pleased to support, following in the footsteps of the highly successful and extremely popular London Branch Programmes. For its Aberdeen rotation, the YEP course will reflect the extensive locally based Oil and Gas related Industries, and of course also the rapidly growing Renewables Energy Sector. Please contact Hooman Takhtechian,  HTakhtechian@oceaneering.com, if you are interested in participating in this.

Keeping fit and helping the community, Miles of Smiles!  Compliance Manager, Ian Somers is on route to gaining his “pilots” license for the riding of the Oldmeldrum Chapter Trishaw.

Cycling Without Age is a movement started in 2012 in Denmark by Ole Kassow and Dorthe Pederson. Ole wanted to help the elderly get back onto their bicycles, but he had to find a solution to their limited mobility. The answer was a trishaw. He started offering free rides to the local nursing home residents … and the rest is history!

Cycling Without Age Scotland now generates “miles of smiles” in every part of Scotland and its reach and impact are growing every day. It enriches and enhances lives, unlocks doors, enables older people to once again be an active part of their communities, once again to “feel the wind in their hair”, to rekindle old friendships and to make new ones and to rejoice in heart-warming stories. This is unparalleled access, which we also provide to disabled people.

Wide-spread recognition of our work includes that by the World Economic Forum which highlighted our innovative solution to loneliness.

Good Luck Ian from all at TRAC.  In life, motivation is like a gear in the cycle. We get motivated, we work faster!

Well done Barry Hughes on receiving high praise and awards for your safety conscious attitude Offshore. Our successful, safe delivery mirrored from our operations in the UK to our operations in offshore Ghana.

TRAC has won a Safety Award at the 5^th EnQuest Supplier Forum which saw 55 supply chain partners take part in roundtable discussions focused on the theme of collaboration.

Gunther Newcombe, Director of Operations at the Oil and Gas Authority, and Colette Cohen, Chief Executive Officer of the Oil & Gas Technology Centre, shared their ideas on maximising opportunities through collaboration.

Supply Chain Analyst at EnQuest, Caroline Taylor, said:” The event gave us the opportunity to share progress made against our plans to Deliver, De-Lever and Grow, to thank our suppliers for their contribution in 2018, and to present awards to some of our outstanding performers.

TRAC Managing Director Danny Hawthorn said : ”Safety is at the very core of what we do so we are delighted to receive this award in recognition of that commitment.”

Award recipients were:

Safety Award : KCA Deutag, TRAC Oil & Gas, Tony Railton (Petrofac)

Business Partnership Award: TechnipFMC, Whittaker Engineering

Service Delivery Award : Transocean, NB Surveys.