Skipper NDT Labeled an Efficient Solution by the Solar Impulse Foundation

To date approximately 30% all oil & gas pipelines across the world cannot be secured through traditional tools, representing a total of 1.5 million KM .

This constitutes a major safety and environmental threat for pipeline operators and local communities in close proximity. Incidents on such infrastructures can have devastating consequences as seen on several occasions. A single incident on a gas pipeline in Belgium caused 24 deaths and 132 injuries. Another incident in the French natural reserve of La Crau resulted in the spillage of over 5’400 m3 of heavy crude oil over 5 hectares with a severe impact on the local ecosystem. The US safety material administration estimates that in the past 6 years, in the US alone, there were over 3,300 incidents resulting in over 80 deaths and 400 injuries while causing $ 4bn of material damages.

To solve this issue, Skipper NDT develops a contactless magnetic technology to help secure this energy infrastructure where traditional means are not applicable. Our objective is to contribute to the safety of the people and the environment while ensuring no operational disruption. We are currently deploying on the field the 3rd version of our hardware prototype while continuing to develop more performant algorithms and machine learning techniques to automatically detect danger zones on a pipeline. The current version is commercialized. Among our clients in Europe: TOTAL, Air Liquide, Fluxys, Dépôts Pétroliers de Foss (DPF)...

TOTAL supports our R&D efforts, providing technical expertise and financial resources. We also have collaborations with major R&D labs such as the Geeps laboratory (Centrale Supelec), IFP EN (Institut Français du Pétrole et des Energies nouvelles). Discussions are underway with MIT. A French patent has been awarded, and pending in Europe, Canada & the US. The technology received several awards, the French Ministry of Research award (iLab 2017), the EU Excellence Award (H2020 SME 1), selection to the NETVA program in North America, selection to the Creative Destruction Lab program at the University of Calgary...