Offshore Industries

The piping systems for offshore oil rigs and production facilities contain a multitude of valves built to many different specifications to handle the wide variety of flow control challenges. These facilities also contain various control system loops and pressure relief devices.

For oil production facilities, the arterial heart is the actual oil or gas recovery piping system. Although not always on the platform itself, many production systems use Christmas trees and piping systems that operate in the inhospitable depths of 10,000 feet or more. This production equipment is built to many exacting American Petroleum Institute (API) standards and referenced in several API Recommended Practices (RPs).

On most large oil platforms, additional processes are applied to the raw fluid coming from the wellhead. These include separating water from the hydrocarbons and separating gas and natural gas liquids from the fluid stream. These post-Christmas tree piping systems are generally built to American Society of Mechanical Engineers B31.3 piping codes with the valves designed in accordance with API valve specifications such as API 594, API 600, API 602, API 608 and API 609.

Some of these systems may also contain API 6D gate, ball and check valves. Since any pipelines on the platform or drill ship are internal to the facility, the strict requirements to use API 6D valves for pipelines do not apply. Although multiple valve types are used in these piping systems, the valve type of choice is the ball valve.