Inuktun Services provides pipe inspection systems for energy companies

Inuktun Services Ltd is a small company in the less than large city of Nanaimo, B.C., but its specialized products are used by big energy companies all around the world.

Inuktun designs and manufactures remotely operated robotic systems, cameras and components that monitor hazardous areas and confined spaces, such as underground pipes that transport oil and gas.

“We specialize in small, interchangeable components,” said Inuktun president Colin Dobell. “We make what is, in effect, a remote robotic toolkit.”

Dobell said Inuktun means “in the way of man” or “like a man.”

“A very loose translation of Inuktun Services would be 'service to the way of man',” he said.

Dobells says Inuktun combines art and science. 

“The science is obvious, I hope, but our engineers and designers also incorporate the passions of an artist in their designs,” he said. “They take into consideration how the components look and how they look when they perform.”

Dobell said Inuktun's extensive product line is a set of components that can be combined in various ways to create customized remote systems. The company sells four standard Spectrum cameras, (SP45, SP90, SP120 and SP120HD) and two standard crawler types (Minitracs and Microtracs) with a variety of configurations for speed, power and depth rating.

“We also have light modules, power modules, tether configurations, manipulators and control software,” Dobell said. 

Combining the different components with tracks and cameras in different ways enables Inuktun to build its Versatrax crawler systems – VT450, VT300, VT150, VT100, vertical crawlers and magnetic crawlers.

“To date, the biggest selling camera is the Spectrum 90 PTZ, and the Minitracs are the biggest crawler sellers,” Dobell said.

Inuktun sells and rents its equipment in two ways: directly to end users, and through a network of distributors and company representatives. In addition, Inuktun has partners and customers that provide pipe inspection services.

British company Sureclean uses the Inuktun vertical crawler and controller for industrial cleaning and waste management. — Photo courtesy Sureclean/Inuktun

“We are just about to open our new U.S. subsidiary office in Houston, Texas,” Dobell said. “It will be called Inuktun InCommand Robotics, LLC. We also have distributors in China, Singapore and Scotland, and manufacturer's reps in other international locations.”

Dobell said that what makes Inuktun different from its competitors is that its products and designs are built around a modular concept.

“That allows for rapid reconfiguration to meet specific remote inspection or tooling needs,” Dobell said. “In addition, we are willing and able to customize our equipment to meet specific client needs.”

Inuktun was founded in 1989 when two friends, Terry Knight and Al Robinson, decided to build a remotely operated underwater vehicle for the consumer market. 

“They were a bit ahead of their time," Dobell said, "but they did manage to start selling in industrial markets, including to the nuclear power industry in the United States. From there, more requirements led to new product development and, over time, the full product line we have now, along with a large technology base and custom engineering capability.”

The Inuktun Pelican Case Controller at work. — Photo courtesy Sureclean/Inuktun

Customers include Ontario Hydro, GE Nuclear Energy, Hitachi Nuclear, Idaho National Engineering Laboratory and Pacific Gas and Electric.

Because its products and its markets are so specialized, Inuktun has customers all over the world. One of those customers is Sureclean Limited, a British company with facilities in Scotland and Egypt. Like Inuktun, it operates globally.

“Sureclean is an established service contractor that provides our range of industrial cleaning and waste management services to the oil and gas and other energy sectors,” said projects director Alan Stewart. “We support the offshore drilling, inshore rig maintenance, oil and gas production, floating production storage and offloading and decommissioning industries. Recent projects have taken us to the North Sea, West Africa and North Africa.”

In addition to industrial cleaning and waste management, Sureclean uses a number of Inuktun camera and camera crawler systems to provide pre- and post-cleaning inspections. 

“In our fleet we own a Versatrax vertical crawler, a Versatrax 100 MicroMag, a Versatrax 150 crawler, a Spectrum 120 HD drop camera and a Spectrum 45 push rod camera,” Stewart said.

Sureclean's investment in Inuktun’s camera systems has allowed the company to expand its inspection capabilities. 

“The versatility in our camera fleet allows us to carry out this service within hazardous areas and confined spaces, as well as under water,” Stewart said. “One recent project required the inspection and cleaning of three compressor pipes before recommissioning on board a production platform located in the North Sea.”