flexlife has opened a new international base in Brazil.The company, who also have a base in Kuala Lumpur, are best known globally for their breakthrough ultrasonic scanning technology.

flexlife business development director Carl-Petter Halvorsen said: “Having a local presence in Brazil is very important, it’s such a critical place for the oil and gas industry at the moment. Approximately 60 per cent of the worlds market for flexible pipe is in Brazil so there is a real opportunity for growth.

“Having the company officially registered in Brazil demonstrates flexlife’s firm commitment to expanding our product offering in South America. We are currently looking at implementing in-country fabrication of some of our new products to make them 100 per cent Brazilian, which is very important to our South American client base.”

The move to establish a base in Brazil is part of the company’s overall strategy to expand into key locations for the oil & gas industry and generate additional sales.

As part of the expansion plan flexlife have appointed Leonardo Dias, formerly of Petrobras, as country manager to help drive growth in the area.

Mr Halvorsen said: “Leonardo’s in-depth knowledge of flexible pipe will be a great asset to the company, he knows the Brazilian market well and will quickly establish our local presence ensuring that we maximise this exciting opportunity.”

flexlife is currently in the process of selecting the location of their new offices and have plans to increase staff numbers, building up to five in the first year and doubling that number in year two.

flexlife specialises in delivering flexible pipe projects and subsea integrity management. As part of its portfolio, flexlife offers a range of patented solutions to many of the most common problems facing the subsea sector, including ultrasonic scanning technology to pinpoint failures in flexible pipe.

Their ultrasonic scanning technology detects outer sheath breaches and corrosion in the armour wires surrounding flexible pipes with a 100 per cent success rate without requiring production to be shut down – a first in the 40 year history of flexibles. The application can detect sthe pecific location of any flooding and scan the armour wires around flexibles to an accuracy of 0.2mm.

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