Overview
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s

BEL Valves has come a long way since its inception in the 1950s. The modern day BEL Valves, the largest division of the British Engines Group, operates from a large, state-of-the-art, integrated production facility and has established itself as a leading manufacturer of high integrity Valves, Actuators and Controls to the global Oil and Gas industry.

Founded in the 1950s, BEL Valves was originally established to support ICI Teeside (UK) under licence for petrochemical products. The company soon diversified, acquiring the licence from ICI, into producing complete valves for the petrochemical industry with working pressures up to 4500 Bar g for customers all over the world.

In the early 1970s, taking advantage of the oil boom, BEL Valves directed its attention to the North Sea. Utilising its vast experience and technology gained from the design and manufacture of high pressure petrochemical valves, the company developed a range of Gate, Globe and Check Valves for the Oil and Gas industry.

Today BEL Valves has a global customer base which includes SPS Companies, Subsea Installers, Engineering Contractors and the world’s largest Oil and Gas operators, and a large portfolio of Valve installations in the world’s most hostile environments.

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1970s
In the 1970s, during the oil boom made possible by the exploitation of the North Sea oil fields, BEL Valves diversified into the onshore Oil and Gas market using products developed for the Petrochemical industry.

BEL Valves manufactured Check Valves, Globe Valves and Wedge Gate Valves for the onshore Oil and Gas market, as well as maintaining existing Petrochemical business.

Key Oil and Gas projects that BEL Valves supplied Valves, Actuators and Controls to in the 1970s include:
• Chevron Central Ninian
• Aramco, Various Projects
• Various Petrochemical Projects

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1980s
In the 1980s BEL Valves expanded its product range for offshore Oil and Gas applications, including the development of Through Conduit Slab and Expanding Gate technology. Towards the end of the 1980s BEL Valves reduced its reliance on third party Actuators by developing its own range of Gate Valve Actuators and Epi-cyclic Gearboxes.

In 1988 BEL Valves invested in a tungsten carbide coating facility for metal to metal sealing, which has helped improve the integrity of its valves as well as making it the only Through Conduit Gate Valve manufacturer able to complete tungsten carbide coating in-house.

Key Oil and Gas projects that BEL Valves supplied Valves and Actuators to in the 1980s include:
• Marathon Brae A&B
• Shell Eider
• Statoil Gullfaks C and Sleipner A
• Mobil Beryl A and Camelot
• BP Wytch Farm, Forties, Miller, Gyda
• Phillips Ekofisk
• Occidental Piper

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1990s
In the 1990s BEL Valves expanded its Surface Oil and Gas business globally, and established significant growth in the Subsea sector, developing a range of Subsea Gate Valves and Actuators mainly for use in the UK.

BEL Valves continued to grow sales of Through Conduit Expanding Gate Valves, and added a number of additional products to its portfolio including:
• Surface Actuators Control Systems
• Gate Valves in bore sizes up to 40” NB
• Valves for High Temperature & High Pressure applications
• HIPPS (High Integrity Pressure Protection System)

BEL Valves also completed an upgrade of its Assembly and Test facilities and invested in Parametric 3D CAD (Computer Aided Design) and FEA (Finite Element Analysis) software.

Key Oil and Gas projects that BEL Valves supplied Valves, Actuators and Controls to in the 1990s include:

Surface
• Statoil Gullfaks C, Snorre, Aasgard, Heidrun
• Shell Malampaya, Mallard, Bullwinkle & Draugen
• Mobil Buckland & Beryl
• Conoco Britannia
• HMDC Hibernia
• Exxon Mobile Bay
• Elf Elgin Franklin
• Phillips Judy-Joanne
• Norsk Shell Troll
• BP Bruce

Subsea
• Woodside Laminaria
• Talisman Orion & Ross
• Marathon Kinsale, Bell, Brae
• Pennzoil Garden Banks
• Amerada Hess Fife, Hudson, Triton, Durward/Dauntless
• Shell Merlin & Mallard
• Phillips Judy & Joanne
• BP Schiehallion, Foinaven, ETAP, Bruce WAD
• Conoco MacCulloch
• Lasmo Larch
• Texaco Strathspey

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2000s
During the early 2000s BEL Valves began manufacturing for the Deepwater Subsea sector, expanding its product range to include:
• Subsea Ball Valves
• Subsea Small Bore Gate Valves
• Patented Rotary Disc Valves

BEL Valves acquired and further developed the patented E (Eccentric) Ball valve from AkerKvaerner, developed and patented its own Metal Stem Sealing solution, and developed qualified prototypes an All Electric Subsea Actuator in partnership with Shell and Alpha Thames.

Continually investing in equipment, technology and best practice, BEL Valves bought in the latest machine tool technology to support its growth in Subsea products, further expanded the capacity of its Assembly and Test facilities, and implemented a fully integrated business system.

Key Oil and Gas projects that BEL Valves supplied Valves, Actuators and Controls to in the 2000s include:

Surface
• BP Tanguh
• ConocoPhillips Suban II & Belanak
• Agip Kashagan
• BP Shah Deniz
• Chevron Texaco Tengiz
• BP ACG
• Petrobras P50, P53, P54
• Statoil 2/4M & Statfjord Late Life
• NPCC OGD 3

Subsea
• Shell Bonga – 1200m
• Total (AKS) Dalia – 1500m
• BP Block 18 – 1950m
• BP (AKS) West of Shetlands
• ExxonMobil Kizomba C and Block 15 Gas Gathering – 1200m
• Statoil Tyrihans
• Statoil Snohvit, Kristin
• BG (AKS) Simian/Sapphire & WDD I, II
• Reliance (AKS) KGD6
• Woodside Vincent

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