Pipeline tech firm pumps up earnings

● Kintore-based Stats UK extends global footprint during the year

as was seen recently with the signing of agency agreements in Australia and New Zealand, and we are confident we will see the rewards in 2018 and beyond.”

The principal activity of Stats, which is headquartered in Kintore, is the provision of pipeline testing, repair and integrity services, including the design, supply and provision of specialised test, intervention and isolation tools, to the international oil and gas industry. The firm said it continued to invest in research and development relating to its proprietarytechnologies and products.

The group, which received financial backing from Business Growth Fund in 2012, with a second tranche of funding received in 2014, operates from Kintore, Kendal and Inverurie in the UK, Edmonton and Calgary in Canada, Houston in the US, Abu Dhabi and Qatar in the Middle East and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. ● Benchmark US crude was trading at about $67 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange yesterday. On Friday it gained 7 cents to settle at $68.40 per barrel. Brent crude, used to price international oils, was sitting at about $73.60 per barrel. It added 28 cents in London on Friday.