Jasper to stop Nigeria's oil leaks from oil pipelines

He is from Nigeria and has seen how leaks from oil pipelines pollute the coast. The diver and the engineer took his PhD at the University of Stavanger, Norway to help his country with a new invention, a leak detector .

Jasper Agbakwuru takes us down into the basement to Innova AS Lura, Sandnes. Here he tests out the prototype that he hopes will help Nigeria and other nations to stop leaks from a number of punctured oil pipeline. The invention may soon become interesting for Norwegian oil and gas industry.

It is a well known problem that the pipes that carry oil over land and under water in Nigeria are drilled and tapped for the valuable oil. Thieves does not clog the holes behind them. This leads to devastation and costs of the Nigerian nation.

Recently, the Agency reported that thieves walk away with 20 percent of Nigeria's oil production.

Put dive buddies die

Jasper Agbakwuru is an engineer and diver. In his homeland he has seen diving buddies die in the attempt to locate such oil leaks in the water along the coast that are turbid because of sand and clay. He has personally experienced how impossible it is to find a hole and describe the leak in a pipe when one can not see, and must feel his way to the hole with your fingers.

This was part of the motivation for applying to Norway and University of Stavanger. There he took his doctorate in May last year. Together with Professor Ove Tobias Gudmestad he has developed a leak detector, a tool to detect, inspect and repair leaks under water - for example olje_ and gas pipelines.

The invention will he tested out as an employee of Innova AS.

The way from PhD documents to a prototype of a leak detector was funded with support of Shell, which is one of the companies that produce oil off the coast of Nigeria and other parts of the business community in Oslo, the Norwegian Research Council and Prekubator TTO. Through Prekubator Jasper has also signed licensing agreements with underwater equipment company Innova.

Cases airspace around the camera eye

Down in the workshop of Innova he has a tank with pipes. In one of the tubes is a leak.With the naked eye it is impossible to see the clear water flows into the clear water.

Jasper Agbakwurus invention is a camera mounted on a clamp. When he squeezes it together around the pipe and blow air down through a tube, it is an air space between the camera and pipes. This enables the camera to send clear photos of the pipe and leak to a screen up on the hill.

The market is there

Eve magazine present the same day as Jasper Agbakwuru demonstrates leak detector for representatives of Oceaneering. Trond Jacobsen and Jan Ove Austrheim follow attentively when Jasper Agbakwuru says.

Technical Director Alf-Kristian Aadland in Innova says to Eve magazine that the company sees opportunities in innovative projects like this:

- I think it's exciting, and we see the potential in the market. Our role will be to develop the project further and find cooperation actors, says Aadland.

Culled from aftenbladet.no