the complexity of valve specifications
because they require placing oil and gas
into pipelines taken to processing facilities that can be many miles away.
The midstream segment—storage
and transportation of oil and gas
resources from remote sources such as
the deepwater fields of the Gulf of Mexico or the frozen tundra of Alaska—has
another unique set of conditions. Long
pipelines require compressors along the
way to keep the product moving, and
valves are asked to protect equipment
while offering minimal restriction to the
flow. Extremely low temperatures are
required for converting natural gas into
natural gas liquids in preparation for
transportation from isolated gas fields
to gas-consuming markets. Cryogenic
service demands that valves be made of
materials for low temperatures and
other special designs. Midstream solutions for loading/offloading terminals
and storage tanks for oil and gas products offer more opportunities for valve
suppliers.
The third industry segment—down-
stream—brings challenges to find solu-
tions for the refining process of crude
oil, as well as the sale and distribution
of both the refined product (i.e., gaso-
line, fuel, asphalt, etc.) and natural gas.
This sector is made up of industrial,
retail and distribution businesses and is
the segment that provides products such
as heating and transportation fuels to
consumers and businesses. Additionally,
this segment feeds raw materials to a
variety of petrochemical industries that
use petroleum-based products to make
plastics, fertilizers, pharmaceuticals
and more. The valve requirements for
the downstream market include higher-
pressure designs and metal-seating
technology and metallurgies to accom-
modate the temperatures at which mod-
ern refineries operate.
RELEVANT VALVES
AND EQUIPMENT
Each of these industry segments faces
unique and diverse environments that, in
turn, create extreme operating condi-
tions for valves and other flow control
components. Because of the extreme
temperatures and pressures, as well as
the most remote and harshest environ-
ments, the types of valves and materials
for those valves for each segment vary
considerably. There are very few valve
suppliers that could provide a complete
range of solutions, and most suppliers
today specialize in one or two segments.
