The Velosi Group, a provider of quality assurance and quality control services to a number of major national and multinational oil and gas companies, and the RINA Group, a leading international certification body, today announced a new joint venture.

The new 50:50 joint venture company, called RINA-V, will provide offshore project certification to oil and gas companies, and to the offshore industry. It will enable Velosi to offer existing and potential clients a much broader range of consulting services by combining its skills and worldwide coverage with those of RINA INDUSTRY, RINA’s subsidiary.

Velosi currently offers a number of offshore project surveillance services. Through, RINA a member of IACS (International Association of Classification Societies), the new joint venture will be able to provide certification and quality assurance services to the offshore industry covering the whole life-cycle, from design appraisal and construction supervision to life extension and requalification.

“This joint venture is a valuable way for Velosi to rapidly extend its services to the major oil and gas multinational companies at a time when investment in infrastructure remains very high,” said Dr. Nabil Jalil, CEO, Velosi. “Through RINA V, Velosi will be able to offer complete offshore platform certification services to its clients in addition to its core services, while RINA can now take advantage of Velosi’s extensive personnel resources and worldwide reach.”

The Velosi Group operates globally through offices in 31 countries worldwide. The majority of the operating and regional offices are strategically located in close proximity to significant oil and gas production areas and/or equipment manufacturing centres. Velosi currently offers its clients project verification, quality enhancement, certification services and engineering support services.

“Through this partnership we will increase our operations through Velosi’s extensive worldwide coverage while contributing 145 years of experience in certification and more than 10 years of successful offshore engineering activities in Italy, Egypt, Congo and Kazakhstan,” said Fabio Ziliotto, CEO, RINA INDUSTRY.

RINA-V will operate out of the UAE and service clients in Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, UAE, Nigeria, Angola, India, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and Russia and CIS countries.