As usual, I would like to add my good wishes to that of the new President for a happy and prosperous new year to all members.
We start 2019 with degree of uncertainty as to the outcome of the Brexit negotiations, and how this will affect our industry. According to the British Coatings Federation (representing all the UK coating manufacturers), the industry could suffer severe disruption, a loss of millions of pounds and a drain on investment. The £4b “just-in-time” industry, has more than half of its suppliers based in the EU, and has been forced to activate “no deal” contingency planning which consists of stockpiling key raw materials and finished goods, hiring more warehouse space and setting up legal entities in the EU. Its members are also preparing to grapple with different sets of chemicals regulations, and face tariffs on both raw materials, half of which are sourced in the EU, and on finished products, costing the industry an estimated £150m.
However the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is offering help for coatings companies to stay in the British market while still fulfilling all necessary regulations, as not only UK companies will have to pay attention to changes after Brexit, it also affects companies in the EU-27 and EEA that are doing business with UK companies. However potentially the most prominent change will probably be that there will no longer be a REACH registration for UK-companies after Britain leaves the European Union, and thus could prevent the introduction of new materials and products to the EU.
Enough of politics and back to this issue, there are two technical articles covering corrosion protection and monitoring of oil and gas production systems, including those operating at elevated temperature. Hassan Malik discusses the use and positioning of corrosion monitoring points to ensure effective protection of assets, and Dik Bestzig explains how coatings are tested for performance at high temperature operation.