WHERE
ARE USED
VALVES
THE ROUGH-AND-TUMBLE
OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY
Rugged, reliable and safe are essential characteristics to all equipment operating in this industry, and valves are certainly no exception. BY NICHOLAS WILLIAMS
Historically, the oil and gas indus- try has presented equipment
suppliers and production personnel
with difficult and demanding operating conditions. For valves, that has
translated into an ever-increasing
need for tougher, longer-lasting, better performing valves.
Demand for oil and gas grew
tremendously during the industrial
revolution and grew even further to
fuel the development of western
economies. This demand spurred the
need for deeper wells, longer pipelines
and lower production costs, which
required drillers and refiners to select
equipment more carefully. As produc-
tion, transportation and processing
technology advanced, equipment per-
formance requirements became more
and more stringent to support
increasing operational efficiencies. Today, performance expectations are higher than
ever because the variety of operating conditions has expanded, and the protection of
personnel and the environment have been added to the list of requirements.
