A new valve making facility that a Pan Gulf Holding affiliate is building in Dammam will boost its prospects in the competitive oil and gas industry.

Pan Gulf Valves Services Company currently operates two manufacturing units in Jubail for a range of valves and accessories but plans to produce mainly carbon steel valves for oil and gas applications at the upcoming facility.

Annual capacity will be 10,000 vales per year at the Dammam plant which will become operational by the end of 2012, said technical manager Afzal Baghdadi.

“Our emphasis is on the Middle East and North Africa region and we’re penetrating the infrastructure and oil and gas market there,” Baghdadi said.

“We will be integrating backwards into our existing operations. As well as expanding the range of our steel valves we are going into collaborations for safety relief valves and control valves.”

Baghdadi commented that the form of cooperation would depend on the parties collaborating and could cover assembling or trading.

In the event valves assembly or manufacturing is favoured it could be undertaken at the new Dammam plant, he said.

Pan Gulf Valves currently manufactures supply valves of carbon steel, stainless steel and ductile iron to ASME, API, DIN, BS and AWWA specifications. The company’s pipeline accessories, adaptors, couplings and dismantling joints are offered in SVM manufacturing standards or custom specifications. Capacity at the plant is 30,000 units per year. The valves it makes are of various types, sizes and configurations.

Most of the company’s valves now cater to the utilities sector with a small portion made for the oil and gas industry as and when orders come.

Most of the company’s valves now cater to the utilities sector

Ongoing projects
Pan Gulf Valves is now in the process of supplying valves worth SR14 million ($3.7 million) for use on the water line in Tathleej and Aseer. The contract came from Yahya Omar and Shiba Jazira.

It is also now delivering valves worth SR9 million for the Shoaiba project under a contract granted by MOW/Ruwaite.

Other valves it is in the process of delivering are meant for Kaps (A) RC utilities and energy field package (contractor Aramco/Kathlan), the Kholais Dam water treatment system (Veolia Water Systems) and Al Oyun project (Civil Works Company).

The company recently supplied valves worth SR4 million to the Hail network system under a contract awarded by MOW/Aziz Company.

It is on track to overtake the 2010 turnover of SR36 million having touched SR25 million in the first half of this year. It registered exports of SR2.5 million for H1 against SR2 million for the whole of the previous year.

Valves account for 75 per cent of total sales.

“Considering there is intense competition and business circumstances have changed in both local and international markets, the big challenges arise from the spheres of human resources and low cost manufacturing,” said Baghdadi.
“Prospects are still good as the market is expanding.”