Mumbai-based engineering and IT firm Rolta India has announced the acquisition of specialist IT firm Piocon Technologies Inc based in Chicago, Illinois, USA, for an undisclosed sum.
 
The acquisition of the template-based solution provider will help Rolta address critical operational needs of refineries in the oil and gas sector, the company said in a website release.
 
''This solution is field-proven, and has been deployed successfully in multiple refining facilities of one of the world's largest oil companies,'' Rolta said.

''The solution was recognised by Oracle with the `Titan' award for Piocon's innovative approach to integrating business intelligence tools with enterprise-level engineering databases and applications to provide operational excellence, reliability metrics and reporting for more than 100,000 pieces of equipment and hundreds of operations throughout the large refinery,' it added.

The solution helps refineries to ward off unplanned shutdowns stemming from reliability-related incidents  for periods of over six times the refinery's historical average and 3 times its previous record.

The solution can also be scaled to address process improvements in a refinery to achieve downtime reduction, inventory rationalisation, optimisation of crude selection, and improved refinery planning.

Industry experts believe that when fully deployed, the Rolta solution could save as much as $20 million annually for a medium-sized refinery, ensuring very high returns on their investment and allowing for business decisions to be made expeditiously, it said.

The Piocon solution is based on the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) AP-913 standard, which was originally developed to ensure equipment reliability within the nuclear power industry, but is now widely accepted by other process industries. Therefore, this solution is eminently suited to be extended beyond refinery operations to up-stream and down-stream operations in oil and gas, and to other industry segments like petrochemicals, mining, power, and especially highly regulated sectors like pharmaceuticals and nuclear power, the release pointed out.

Based on available market research, Rolta expects the size of the addressable market for such solutions to be of the order of $1billion annually.

The Piocon acquisition is a part of Rolta's systematic growth plans to provide configurable solutions that address the real challenges faced by industry today. With

Piocon has an impressive track record of over 15 years and a significant customer base that includes Fortune 100 companies, highly experienced consultants, unique methodologies and technologies, ongoing customer contracts, and a profitable revenue stream in a fast-growing market, Rolta said.

"The move to add Piocon's operational excellence and business intelligence solutions to our portfolio reflects our commitment to growth through the delivery of higher value solutions for our customers. This acquisition will help Rolta fulfil a critical and strategic need of the process and power industries at a time when every plant is challenged, said K K Singh, chairman and CEO of Rolta India.

Rolta is an Indian multinational having executed projects in over 40 countries. The company is a strong player in the defence, government, infrastructure and security markets, worldwide.