Ongoing industrial development in Saudi Arabia has ensured that Dresser Al Rushaid Valve and Instrument Company (Darvico) will overtake last year's revenues.

The company is confident it will meet its SR100 million ($26.6 million) sales target for 2009, up 20 per cent over the previous year.

Helping the sales effort was a 20 per cent increase in capacity realised less than a year ago in its production facilities in Jubail, making it possible for the company to produce more than 12,000 safety valves and 4,000 control valves annually.

As well as state-of-the-art  testing and manufacturing facilities in Jubail, Darvico operates a service centre at Yanbu which DR Pai, the general manager, said would be expanded to more than double its size in 2010 as business in the existing centre had increased considerably.

Darvico, a joint venture between Al Rushaid Petroleum Investment Co Ltd and Dreesser Industries Inc of the US, supplies products under the brand names of Masoneilan and Consolidated. Masoneilan products include general and service control valves, pressure regulators, level transmitters and smart products while Consolidated offerings are safety relief valves. The company makes Masoneilan globe valves up to 24 inches and rotary valves up to 16 inches while the conventional safety valves it manufactures can have a size up to 12 x 16 inches. The bigger sizes are essential as a number of gas projects are to start in the near future.

Many applications
Darvico products are considered special for many applications in oil refineries, petrochemicals, water treatment facilities, gas transmission, hydraulic solutions, power generation, fertiliser plants, pumps and compressor accessories and pipelines.

'All products made by Darvico have the same field performance as those made in Dresser plants worldwide. Darvico provides a wide range of engineering solutions using field-proven technologies and application expertise,' said Pai. 'Conventional designs do not generally provide the optimum solution for peak performance and equipment longevity in these types of applications. The material includes highly advanced and successful smart positioners SVI II AP, foundation field bus positioners and engineered product valves such as the Lincoln Log, V Log, VRT valves, steam valves and pilot-operated safety valves.'

Darvico moved its administrative staff to a new building leaving additional space to expand production. The new office has a large training hall that offers frequent product training sessions and new product presentations to staff and customers.

In addition to manufacturing new products, Darvico undertakes after-market support such as overhauling and repair, calibration and diagnostic services, shut-down jobs and on-site training. It also takes contracts for servicing control valves in the shop and on site.

'Our products have been audited and approved by the National Boiler board of the USA and we have the ASME certificate authorisation for stamping our safety valves with UV and NB stamps,' said Pai.

'We hold the VR stamp for valve repair. Darvico is a Masoneilan authorised repair centre (Marc) for control valves and regulations and level instruments and is a GTC (green tag centre) for safety relief and safety valves.'

The company has successfully executed mega projects including the Khursaniyah, Hawiyah and Juaymaih gas plants and the Khurais oilfield development project. Its main customers are Aramco, Sabic, Sceco, SWCC, Samref and Lubref while contracting companies it has done business with include Bechtel, Technip, Snamprogetti, Technicas, Flour, Toyo and JGC.

The company does not export as there is a big demand for its products in Saudi Arabia itself. Since no foundries have been established inside the kingdom, the castings are procured from Dresser. They pass through global quality control procedures to ensure reliability.