Year: 2021

The discovery that existing Oliver Valves technology had been successfully deployed by key customers into the Hydrogen and Carbon Capture markets sparked the interest of Chairman Michael Oliver. Seeking to develop this potentially lucrative market further, Oliver Hydcovalves Ltd was incorporated as the vehicle for this exciting diversification.

The UK is setting the pace as a world leader in developing a zero-carbon economy. In order to achieve this ambitious objective, many of our traditional hydrocarbon reliant industries will need to transition to green energy sources such as Hydrogen or clean up their CO2 greenhouse gas emissions through the use of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technologies.

The rest of the world is following closely, driven by the 2015 Paris Agreement, which set a limit on global warming to below 1.5 degrees Celsius by the mid-century.

Oliver Hydcovalves, a ‘‘green’ company has been set-up to pursue our interests in supplying valves into the hydrogen and carbon capture markets.

Nick Howard, Tony Goodwin and  Rob Porter are taking the responsibility to move this new Company forward with new product designs to meet the requirements for hydrogen and carbon capture applications. This is part of worldwide efforts on climate change and, most significantly, achieve zero emissions by 2050.

Continual improvement through the Oliver Research & Development team will ensure our valves continue to meet or exceed the technical challenges presented by these emerging applications; for example, new materials which prevent the action of Hydrogen Embrittlement.

The recently qualified Oliver Valves ½” Bore Topside Manual Gate Valve has provided our client and end-user with a solution for use in an industry-first high-pressure development in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Challenge:

The project required 20ksi DBB Isolation for vents, drains and chemical injection points around the TUTA (Topside Umbilical Termination Assembly), Boarding Valves and Production Manifold.  Process operating pressures were expected to be around 16,500psi.  A fully rated API 20k valve as required by the customer’s specifications. Small-bore instrumentation needle or ball valves were available to the customer at working pressures of 20,000psi but a full through bore gate valve, such as the one above, was a new market requirement:

• Fully rated PR2 Tested API 20,000psi
• Fire Safe & NACE Compliant
• Process Connection – Compact Flanged
• Instrument Connection – Cone & Thread
• High Alloy Construction
• ½” Bore
• Gate Isolation with Needle Vent because ball deflection had been noted as an issue by the customer with high-pressure ball valves.

Our Challenge:

As the supplier of choice, Oliver’s were required to design and build a valve very quickly to meet the strict application and the project timeline. All of the considerations below had to be met:

• Conceptual Design and Engineering Calculations
• Arrangement Drawings
• Size & Weight Considerations
• Detailed Bill of Materials
• FEA Analysis
• PR2 Testing
• Fire Testing
• 3^rd Party Witness testing
• Customer approval of all test documentation, procedures and FEA
• Prototype; Procurement of materials, Machining, Assembly, Development
• Only a complete, fully tested, and the qualified valve would allow production to begin.  Any miscalculation could delay the delivery of the valves and causes serious project impacts.  This was roughly 12-months from start to finish.
• Design that would meet BSEE requirements
• Customer confidence

Solution:

Oliver Valves and their master distributor, AWC Inc, have been a long-time trusted supplier to this customer.  They have demonstrated experience in project execution, quality, and specifically the desired technology to meet the requirements of this project. The Oliver Valves team were able to meet and exceed all of the customers’ requirements.  Collaboration with the customer from an early stage in the project resulted in a mutually beneficial solution.

The Result:

Oliver Valves will be supplying multiple ½” Manual Gate Valve DBB’s to a Gulf of Mexico Project. In this project application, the ½” Gate Valve DBB will be used to drain the 20,000psi rated pipework surrounding the large boarding valves on a semi-submersible floating production unit. First oil is anticipated 2024. The high-pressure rating of this design allows our clients and end-users alike to access other high-pressure resource opportunities across the industry.

• Working Pressure:20,000psi (1379 bar)
• API 6A 21^st Edition Appendix F PR2 Compliant.
• Independently Witnessed and Approved Qualification.
• Qualified Temperature Range -29^oC to 121^oC operable.
• ½ Turn Manual Operation.
• It can be offered in a single isolate or DBB format utilising a 20Ksi OS&Y Vent.
• Qualified in ASTM A182 F55 with UNS N07718 & N06625 Trim.
• Fire Tested Following API 6FA 5^th

Please Contact Oliver Valves Ltd on valves.dev.1int.co.uk or sales@valves.co.uk for further information. Our business is trusted globally by all the major Oil & Gas operators for our Reliability Under Pressure and our It CAN Be Done approach to client challenges.

Oliver Valves is proud to announce the launch of its brand-new redesigned website.

The new website features a comprehensive list of visual and technical enhancements, but it also showcases the four companies. One of our aims with the new website is to improve our standing within the valve industry and further portray Oliver’s as the world’s leading manufacturer of valves.

Our new website has been developed by the local website design company Blue Whale Media, with the intentions of offering the ultimate user-friendly experience with improved navigation and functionality while allowing customers to see our full product portfolio.

The brand-new website will allow us to showcase every service we offer across our four companies along with the sectors they work with. The new website will cover a comprehensive list of products and services from Oliver Valves, Oliver Valvetek, Oliver Twinsafe and Oliver Hydcovalves. We also wanted to focus on making it easier for our users to learn and locate valuable information about our valve solutions and the particular application or industry, not only at their desk but on mobile devices.

This is also the opportunity to launch our Customer and Supplier Portals that will be an interactive tool through our website.

We hope our visitors and website audience will be able to stay more engaged and informed with our latest news and industry updates. Our new website includes a blog that will contain richer online content such as technical tips, press releases, featured products and newsletters, so you are always just one click away from useful and pertinent information.

It has been a strange and difficult 12 months for everyone with the COVID virus and its effects. The range of changes to everyone’s lives and the changes occurring from a business perspective has had a truly detrimental effect worldwide.

Seeing the fast roll-out of the vaccine programme in the UK is hugely encouraging and it is hoped the latter end of 2021 will see a return to some form of normality. The interim steps being taken now by the Government are a good sign to ease away from the strict guidelines of the last year.

Our main priority at Oliver Valves is to keep all of our internal workplaces safe as coronavirus restrictions are eased. To protect the safety, health and well-being of employees, customers and suppliers, we continue to implement many preventive measures while also meeting the needs of global customers. This includes increased frequency of cleaning and disinfecting of facilities, social distancing practices, remote working when possible, restrictions on business travel and limitations on visitor access to facilities.

At Oliver Valves, we want to take a moment and say a big thank you to all our employees in the manner in which they have conducted themselves during this period. It is encouraging to see the participation of everyone in the obscure and unusual practices that have had to be adopted, day to day, that are now almost second nature. We firmly believe that some of these practices are here to stay for the long term as COVID is likely to remain a natural disease for years to come.

Finally, it’s an appropriate time to mention the Business of Oliver Valves this year. We had expected a reduction in our business activities and this has proven to be the case. However, we are not the only large business to be going through a very similar issue in terms of business continuity.

The management team will endeavour to keep you posted in this regard and hope that 2022 will see big improvements for the business we do worldwide.

Thanks again to all our employees for their support during difficult times.