Ramuel Garcia is the Abu Dhabi Branch Manager of Canada-based Pure Technologies, the company behind the 'SmartBall' leak detection system for water and wastewater pipelines. Garcia has over 25 years experience in inspection of oil, gas, water and wastewater pipelines in the Middle East region. In an email interview, he responded to questions on reasons for setting up the Abu Dhabi branch office, the water/ wastewater leak detection technology developed in-house, and market potential for such technologies in the Gulf region.
Could you tell us about Pure Technologies' offerings for the water sector?
Pure Technologies is among the leading companies involved in the development and application of innovative technologies for inspection, monitoring and management of physical infrastructure. From monitoring the health of large bridges to protecting pipelines, Pure's technologies and expertise are being used around the world to help manage deterioration and reduce loss. Our optical fibre distributed acoustic sensing systems are being used to protect large-diameter pre-stressed water pipelines from San Diego to Libya. Since 1998, our SoundPrint acoustic monitoring systems have been used on some of the world's largest bridges to identify and locate corrosion so that the long-term integrity of these critical links can be assured. Our innovative new SmartBall leak detection system will detect and locate tiny leaks in oil, gas, water and wastewater pipelines. Through our specialist engineering subsidiaries - Jason Consultants, Openaka and Price Brothers (UK), we can provide expert advice on asset management, condition assessment, trenchless technologies and pipe manufacturing to complement our technology offerings. Our corporate head office is in Calgary, Canada and we have offices in Columbia, Maryland; Benghazi, Libya; Weybridge, UK and, now Abu Dhabi. We have over 100 employees and we are growing quickly. We are a listed company and we trade on the Toronto Venture Exchange (TSX Venture) under the symbol: PUR.V
Prior to opening an office in Abu Dhabi, how did you operate in the Gulf market?
We have spent the last two years evaluating the opportunities in the Gulf region. We arrived at the conclusion that establishing a direct presence is critical to winning the confidence of our clients and assure them of strong support. Abu Dhabi is a natural location for developing our business in the GCC region. It is centrally located and has excellent connectivity to Europe and Asia. It also has a skilled technical workforce that minimise the need to send in engineers and technicians from North America to service projects here. As the centre of the oil and gas sector in the UAE, it also has a number of potential clients for our technologies. The recent economic downturn has had no impact on our decision as we take a long-term view of our investment and believe that this region will be an important contributor to our future growth.
Now that you have established a direct presence, what are the markets that you will be initially targeting? From a water and wastewater sector perspective, what is the growth potential for your business?
We see a growing awareness of the need to conserve expensive water resources in the region. Therefore the main utility companies in the UAE, such as Transco, ADDC, ADSSC, DEWA, FEWA and others such as SWCC in Saudi Arabia are potential users of our leak detection and condition assessment technologies, particularly for trunk main systems. We are also introducing long-range robotics with multiple sensing capabilities that facilitate assessment of sewers and water mains, and, through Jason Consultants and Price Brothers UK subsidiaries, we have specialist engineering capabilities that can complement and assist the larger engineering companies' services to the sector.
What are the innovations that differentiate your products from competitors, especially with regard to those targeted at the water and wastewater markets?
We focus on developing solutions for previously unsolved problems, and all of our technologies are developed in-house. A good example is our SmartBall system for finding leaks in trunk mains. Conventional leak detection methods involve the use of leak correlators using surface-mounted sensors on the pipeline. These have proven to be not very effective for large-diameter pipelines, and for non-ferrous pipe materials such as AC or GRP. We took a different approach to conventional practice by putting the sensor inside the pipe and letting it roll with the flow, collecting data on leaks as it travels along the pipeline - similar to a smart pig in an oil pipeline. Now, pipeline owners have a tool that can detect every leak in a line and can survey over 20 kilometres in a day - an innovative and cost-effective solution that has attracted a lot of attention in the industry.
What are the challenges you expect in marketing your products in this region?
Public agencies around the world take time to adopt new technologies and to make decisions. This region will be no different, so we have to be patient. Also, in this part of the world, I think there has been a tendency in the past to not admit there is a problem, for example, with water loss. But we see this changing as there is a desire within senior levels of government in the region to be seen as environmentally responsible and to promote sustainable practices. We believe that if we are patient, and provide good service to our clients, we will be successful.
© H2O 2010
