Rocsole Helps Reduce the Environmental Impact of Oil and Gas Production

January 22, 2025 — Various industries are under pressure to reduce their environmental load. In the oil and gas sector, many producers use Rocsole’s liquid process measurement technology, which helps prevent emissions from production, among other things. One of them is EnerCorp, which has just announced a significant additional purchase and is planning to modernize its own systems using Rocsole’s technology. Rocsole is currently raising funds through a 5 MEUR funding round facilitated by the investment services company Springvest.

Industry is one of the biggest polluters and emitters of carbon dioxide. For example, many oil and gas producers have in recent years realised the potential of technology in reducing the environmental burden: by utilising data more efficiently, unnecessary production stoppages can be prevented.

The impact can be enormous. Today, in North America alone, oil refineries have a total of more than 2,000 unexpected shutdowns per year. Even a single unplanned stoppage, such as an equipment breakdown, not only costs millions, but it can also generate emissions equivalent to several years of normal production. At worst, an equipment breakdown results in serious environmental damage, in which chemicals end up in nature.

Industrial automation is a global trend, with Finnish company Rocsole standing out as one of its pioneers. Rocsole develops and supplies technology for liquid process and sand measurement suitable for various industries. Its customers include many of the world’s leading oil and gas companies and OEMs, such as EnerCorp, which recently purchased additional Rocsole sensor technologies for integration into its devices.

Founded in the United States, EnerCorp is one of the largest providers of sand separation equipment and services in the United States. It serves the world’s largest companies such as ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and British Petroleum.

“Rocsole’s technology plays a pivotal role in enhancing our automated production systems and is integral to our journey toward more efficient processes, safer operations, and cleaner production,” says Brent Coombe, CTO of EnerCorp.

Rocsole’s CEO, Pekka Kaunisto, states that the company’s goal is to challenge traditional radioactive measurement solutions, which may lack the speed and accuracy required by modern companies. Rocsole is the only company to have introduced tomography imaging, a technology also known from medicine, offering superior speed and accuracy in data collection.

“In the oil industry, validating new technology can take up to 10 years. Rocsole has achieved this in under four years, giving us an estimated 5–6-year lead over our competitors,” says Kaunisto.

Rocsole’s customers in the oil and gas industry include ExxonMobil, Petrobras, and Petronas, and other OEMs such as Halliburton.

Industry needs reliable data

A huge amount of data is collected in industry, and measurements are taken at different stages of production. The problem, however, is that it may not be reliable or the data may be accessed too slowly, perhaps only after the damage has already been done.

Many traditional measuring instruments may not operate reliably in harsh conditions, such as extreme temperatures. On the other hand, clogging or deposits of sensors in measuring devices can distort the results. In addition, taking and analyzing samples in laboratories takes time. In addition, measuring devices may not communicate seamlessly with each other or with process control systems. In such situations, the servicing and maintenance of equipment is easily inefficient.

Rocsole’s technology solves all this. Rocsole’s main products are liquid level measurement, such as emulsion interface measurement, and precipitation measurement. In the company’s view, no competitor has such a fast sampling time or the ability to detect emulsion layers as well. At the heart of the technology is a rod sensor, the electrodes of which are energized. The voltage applied to the rod sensor creates an electric field that passes through the layer of dirt. In other words, the measuring equipment continues to function even when dirty, a capability Rocsole believes traditional equipment from competitors lacks.

“Rocsole’s technology offers unmatched visibility into pressure vessels, providing operators with accurate, real-time insights for enhanced control and decision-making. It effectively allows us to see through the walls of the pressure vessel, delivering a clear understanding of internal conditions. The sensor’s output provides confident control feedback for our automation systems. Additionally, its customizable form factor and straightforward retrofitting make it a versatile solution for a wide range of applications”, says Coombe.

Rocsole has also developed software to integrate data collected from tanks and separators into the customer’s control systems. In the future, the aim is to commercialise the software with the Data as a Service service model, allowing customers to utilise a continuous flow of data for maintenance forecasting, for example.

Rocsole has worked with Shell and Repsol to calculate that using data can save up to four million dollars a year per separator.

“For the coming years, the focus will remain on equipment sales. Once the DaaS service is further developed, the emphasis will shift to data sales,” Kaunisto explains.

Prospects for expansion into new industrial sectors

According to Pekka Kaunisto, Rocsole is currently on the verge of steep growth. Founded in 2012, the company has made significant adjustments to its operations in recent years, focusing on restructuring its business foundation. The product range has been streamlined, and technology risks minimized. This work has already borne fruit: customer demand is secured, and the technology has gained acceptance. In addition to EnerCorp, major OEMs like Halliburton have also integrated the company’s technology into their systems.

The goal for the next two years is to scale sales with the current product generation while developing the next generation of products to capture an even larger market.

“The feedback and additional orders received from users are the most important indicators for the company, and development plans have been created in collaboration with customers. This is a great foundation to build on,” says Kaunisto.

The cost structure of next-generation products enables Rocsole to expand into completely new industries. These include, for example, the semiconductor industry, the chemical industry and the food industry, which also have a high environmental impact. For example, semiconductor manufacturing consumes vast amounts of water even under normal conditions and involves hazardous chemicals like sulfuric acid and hydrogen fluoride, making monitoring crucial.

“The total market is worth $27 billion, offering almost endless possibilities,” Kaunisto says.

About ROCSOLE– SeeBeyond Technology.
Rocsole Ltd (www.rocsole.com) is a Finnish high-tech company that develops SEE BEYOND tomographic imaging systems. Customers are able to get reliable actionable insights optimizing their processes for major savings in operational costs, improving financial performance and ESG metrics.