Role of Fabrication in Oil and Gas Industry

Good quality infrastructure in the oil and gas industry is an absolute necessity for oil to be transported, transformed, processed etc. But how are all these complex machines developed and assembled for use by oil and gas professionals? The answer is “fabrication” where metal fabrication companies are involved in producing pipelines, hollow sections, platforms, beams, girders, custom-fitted metal elements, pressure vessels and heat exchangers. Metal and steel fabrication plays a crucial role in the oil and gas industry and this blog will look to outline its various applications and advantages in this regard.

Infrastructure

The infrastructure of the oil and gas industry is complex. An oil rig or an oil platform is a large structure with facilities to drill wells, and extract and process oil and natural gas. There are different types of oil platforms such as fixed platforms, compliant towers, semi-submersible platform, jack-up drilling rigs, drill ships, floating production systems, tension-leg platforms, and gravity-based structures and spar platforms. All these structures are built on steel legs and steel jackets are commonly used structural steel sections while constructing oil platforms.

Equipment

Almost all equipment used in the oil and gas industry are made of structural steel. All kinds of critical parts are manufactured by structural steel fabricators. Pipelines, pressure vessels, and oil and gas separators are some of the applications of structural steel in the oil and gas industry.

Pipelines: Structural steel fabricators produce pipelines based on the type of fluid they will carry.

Pressure Vessels: Pressure vessels are used to hold the fluid or natural gas collected at the oil rig. They are fabricated by steel fabricators for oil and gas companies.

Oil and Gas Separators: Oil and Gas separators are pressure vessels used for separating a well stream into gaseous and liquid components. A major part of it is fabricated by fabrication companies.

Advantages of Fabrication

Fabrication, in particular modular fabrication and process skids, allows the oil and gas industry to meet its pipeline and equipment needs by quickly and efficiently delivering the products and services that the industry needs to continue functioning. Among other things modular fabrication techniques provide the following advantages:

Speed of Construction – Time spent waiting for new pipelines to be built and parts and equipment to be delivered is an extremely costly inconvenience to oil and gas companies. Fortunately, modular fabrication allows for a very rapid construction and fast delivery because the process has been finely tuned for maximum speed and efficiency.

Easy Delivery and Installation – Building the new equipment is only half the battle, the rest lies in actually delivering it and getting it setup. Modular fabrication allows pieces to be shipped and stored conveniently, and then installed with a minimum of inconvenience at its final worksite.

High Safety and Quality Standards – Modular fabrication can be done to the highest level of safety and quality standards because the equipment and parts can be tested prior to delivery. This allows any defects to be identified and corrected before the oil or gas company is ever faced with downtimes or safety hazards from faulty equipment.

Closing Thoughts

The myriad applications and benefits of fabrication have been instrumental in supporting the mammoth oil and gas industry. While there is also a cost associated with maintaining heavy machinery and instrumentation, the smooth operations of various aspects of oil mining and production is essential to generating revenues and meeting industry requirements. Fabrication also has uses in other industries like mining, logging etc. – in essence, fabrication is the definition of multi-faceted!