Emerson decommissions 20 year-old North Sea actuator

June 23, 2011
Emerson Process Management says it has decommissioned a Bettis valve actuator deployed in the North Sea after 20 years of service.

Offshore staff

MANSFIELD, Ohio – Emerson Process Management says it has decommissioned a Bettis valve actuator deployed in the North Sea after 20 years of service. The actuator was decommissioned because the valve has been re-sized due to the reduced flow rates of the field.

Since 1989, offshore installations in the English sector of the North Sea have been required by law to install emergency shutdown valves to isolate the installations from oil and gas pipelines. The Bettis TRQ actuator was designed for and installed in a riser emergency shutdown system.

The regulations introduced in 1989 also covered inspection and testing of ESD valves, including the requirement to perform a partial stroke test of the valve at intervals not exceeding six months. Emerson says that the installed Bettis TRQ actuator was one of the first with this diagnostic capability. Partial stroke diagnostic tests have been able to prove satisfactory operation over this actuator’s lifetime, avoiding the need to remove the actuator from the line for maintenance.

06/23/2011