A leading manufacturer of valves and process instruments has announced it is setting up a spare parts manufacturing facility at its existing Jubail Industrial City production facilities.

Dresser Al Rushaid Valve & Instrument Co Ltd (Darvico) also says it plans to increase output at its main valves plant and expand the services network.  The volume surge will come from an additional shift that the company plans to introduce. The existing plant manufactures mainly the Masoneilan and Consolidated categories of valves and the new unit will make spare parts for those items.

“Around 30 per cent of the spare parts we’re currently importing from our principal’s establishments globally will now be locally manufactured,” said Darvico general manager DR Pai. “We’re in the process of selecting equipment for the unit and we expect it to be operational by mid-2012.

“This is a step towards national self-sufficiency. The parts unit will provide employment opportunities for Saudis,” said Pai. In the first phase, it will generate 18 jobs.

The company currently manufactures 300 Masoneilan valves and 2,000 Consolidated valves monthly. Consolidated products deal with safety and safety relief valves and have applications in oil refineries, petrochemicals, water treatment facilities, gas transmission, hydraulic systems, power generation, fertiliser plants, pumps and compressor accessories and pipeline projects.

Darvico’s product range includes control valves in the 10-12 series as well as general service valves and special engineered valves. General service valves are manufactured at the Darvico plant and supplied to oil and petrochemical companies while special engineered valves are customised valves. Pai said requirements for special engineered valves are low making it unfeasible to produce locally. “When demand arises, Darvico supplies them through Dresser establishments in the US, Japan and France. Our technicians are trained and certified by Dresser which enables them to perform servicing,” he added.

Local buyers
Production from Darvico is consumed locally and the company operates workshops in Yanbu and Jubail.

The company has targeted sales of $45 million for 2011, predicting growth of more than 30 per cent from the previous year.  The optimism is based on upcoming projects that are in the engineering and procurement stages.

Over the years the company has successfully executed supplies to mega projects among which are the Khursaniyah Gas plant, Hawiyah Gas plant, Yansab, Juaymah and Khurais.  Its main customers are Aramco, Sabic, Sceco, SWCC, Samref and Lubref while contracting companies it has done business with include Bechtel, Technip, Snamprogetti, Technicas, Fluor, Toyo and JGC.

Commenting on quality assurance, Pai says: “Quality is our top priority. Our entire design, manufacturing and testing process is regularly audited by independent accreditation bodies. Our shops have been audited and approved by the National Boiler Board of the US and we have ASME certificate of authorisation for stamping our safety valves with UV and NB stamps.

“We hold the VR stamp for valve repair.  Darvico is a Masoneilan authorised repair centre (Marc) for control valves, regulators and level instruments, and GTC.

“Our quality system has been audited and approved by Lloyd’s Register Quality assurance Ltd and we have been certified to ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 29001-2007.”

Darvico is a joint venture between Al Rushaid Petroleum Investment Co Ltd and Dresser Inc, USA. Keeping western region customers in mind, the company operates a service centre in Yanbu which covers all turnaround jobs. It also introduced the mobile workshop which is a mini-valve service shop.

Darvico successfully performed a major plant shutdown at the Saudi affiliate Yansab for the servicing and testing of hundreds of valves at the site.