Materia Inc., which manufactures catalysts and advanced polymers, has developed Proxima thermoset resins as its new solution for the oil and gas industry. Materia said Proxima resins provide solutions that could solve major technology challenges in subsea thermal insulation, subsea buoyancy and downhole tools. Earlier this year, Materia was selected by Shell to supply pipeline insulation materials for the Appomattox (32/22) development in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. Brian Conley, senior Proxima product development manager, said, “Materia’s subsea thermal insulation products offer full system integrity for high-temperature deepwater environments. The use of Proxima HTI polymers results in lower risk and better reliability for insulation of high-temperature subsea flowlines, field joints and equipment relative to the alternative engineered solutions.”