Scaled Solutions is to invest more than £5 million to boost its research and development (R&D) work in the oil and gas industry.

The funding will be used to develop new testing services, addressing knowledge and technology gaps in corrosion and scaling mechanisms.

The Livingston-based firm will receive £2.2m from Scottish Enterprise towards the investment, with the remaining £2.9m being provided by the company itself.

In addition, the company will grow its staff at its Scottish base over the next three years by a third, with 17 of the 19 newly-created jobs in R&D.

Economy Secretary Keith Brown said the funding will further enhance the reputation of Scotland's oil and gas supply chain.


"The company is already providing testing facilities to some of the biggest names in the industry," he said.

"Having recently visited Abu Dhabi and Kazakhstan to promote oil and gas exports and companies, it's particularly encouraging to see the firm identify international opportunities and drive forward the kind of change that will allow it to take full advantage of them.

"The investment will also create high-value and highly-skilled positions working directly in research and development. This will not only be welcome news for the local economy in and around Livingston but helps to strengthen Scotland's position as a champion of new ideas and innovative approaches."

Dr Gordon M. Graham, Managing Director of Scaled Solutions, added: "This is the largest R&D project we've undertaken to date and we believe it will transform our current capabilities and services, creating solutions not available anywhere else in the world.

"We've decided to significantly increase our innovation investment as it'll put us at the forefront of production chemistry and corrosion testing, giving us excellent competitive advantage and an opportunity to capture stronger global market share."

(LM)