OREANDA-NEWS.  Intertek Group plc (Intertek), the leading global provider of quality and safety services to a wide range of industries, announces that it has acquired International Inspection Services Ltd (INSPEC), a leading provider of non-destructive testing (NDT) services to the energy, oil and gas industries based in the Middle East.

INSPEC supplies a broad portfolio of NDT services throughout all stages of the energy, oil and gas infrastructure lifecycle from construction to operation and maintenance to decommissioning. NDT services are vital in helping prevent loss of productivity through unplanned shutdowns which may occur if materials, products or equipment fail to achieve projected life span or their design requirements. INSPEC's NDT services comprise a mixture of traditional non-destructive testing using X-ray alongside specialised inspection services that use advanced technologies such as phased array, eddy current and thermography. Their portfolio of services also extends to providing calibration, heat treatment and metallurgical laboratory testing.

The Middle East boasts some of the largest reserves of oil and gas in the world with increasing urbanization of its population, and consequently investment in energy, oil and gas infrastructure in this region continues to expand. This includes reinvestment in existing infrastructure, as well as building new facilities that meet increasingly stringent regulatory and quality compliance. Established in 1993, INSPEC provides the technical expertise required to meet infrastructure quality and safety needs. Operating across the UAE and Oman, INSPEC employs 720 staff, of which 610 are technical experts.

The addition of INSPEC to Intertek's acquisitions of NDT Services Ltd in the UK and Global X-Ray & Testing Corporation in the U.S.A. allows Intertek to offer NDT services from three key international hubs. With strong alignment to Intertek's asset integrity management and technical inspection services, customers benefit from a complete service solution to meet all their infrastructure compliance and inspection needs.

Stefan Butz, Group Executive Vice President of Intertek's Industry & Assurance division said: "INSPEC is our third investment in global NDT expertise, demonstrating Intertek's commitment to providing customers with a complete portfolio of industrial inspection and asset integrity management services across three key regions. I am pleased to welcome INSPEC to Intertek as an important addition in extending our global capabilities in industrial non-destructive testing into the Middle East and complementing our existing technical expertise in meeting the quality and safety needs of our clients."

NDT is a technique used to help assure safety and reliability through detection of any flaws or defects in products or industrial components such as pipelines, power stations, refineries and oil platforms, without disrupting operations or delaying processes. Demand for this service has grown, driven by increasing regulation and standardisation, extending asset lifespans and the need to protect reputation from product failure.