Glasgow-based pump manufacturer Torishima UK helping develop 'breakthrough' oil and gas device

Scottish manufacturer selected to help realise “game-changer” device looking to make oil and gas fields more eco-friendly.

It is hoped that the 'UK engineering breakthrough' could reduce CO2 emissions caused by flaring and venting from oil and gas fields (file image). Picture: AFP via Getty Images.

A Glasgow firm has been chosen to play a crucial role in bringing to life a device described as a UK engineering “breakthrough” with the potential to significantly reduce harmful emissions from offshore oil and gas facilities.

The new technology, known as EcoGuard, has been invented by Yorkshire-based sealing specialist Aesseal, and has been hailed as a “game-changer”, with hopes that it could solve the problem of emission-releasing flaring and venting from oil and gas fields, and be retrofitted to and extend the life of existing rigs around the world. The firm cites data from the North Sea Transition Authority finding that flaring is responsible for a fifth of UK offshore oil and gas production-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and 1 per cent of total UK annual emissions of the gas.

Aesseal has teamed up with pump manufacturer Torishima UK, based at Glasgow’s Clyde Gateway Business Park (the European base of the Japanese-owned firm), to develop EcoGuard, which will be made in the Scottish city, and is currently at prototype testing stage, expected to be ready to market in early 2024. Gerry Ashe, MD of Torishima Europe, said: “EcoGuard could be a game-changer – and we are delighted to be partnering with Aesseal on this innovative project.”

Chris Rea, founder and group MD of Aesseal, which invested in the product development as part of its 29by29 pledge to invest £29 million by 2029 in mainly eco-friendly projects, said: “My interest is in the environment. Aesseal does not make pumps, and the EcoGuard technology does not use seals, but I would like to turn off the industrial-scale Bunsen burners that are destroying the planet for my grandchildren. On a case-specific basis, I will give our competitors a royalty-free licence as the environment needs all the help it can get.

“In Scotland, which has nearly 90 per cent of UK oil and gas production, more than one billion cubic metres of gas was flared in 2019, releasing 2.9 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions – 21 per cent of the total. Not only is this damaging, it is extremely wasteful. The gas flared off could have been used for heating, and is the same as the total energy consumption of Glasgow.”