Low-E Valves | Fugitive Emissions Control | Schlumberger
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Low-Emission Valves

Trust our API- and ISO-certified Low-E valves to mitigate fugitive emissions in your operations

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Limit environmental impact
Maintain your social license to operate and comply with local, state, regional, and national regulations
Reduce long-term costs
Eliminate expensive repairs and replacements by choosing high-quality valves and maintenance services
Increase revenue
Keep high-value hydrocarbons inside your production, processing, transmission, and storage facilities

Prevent unwanted emissions in upstream, midstream, and downstream valve applications

Fugitive emissions (FE) pose risks both to our environment and your operations. A significant reduction in the emissions associated with oil and gas operations would prove beneficial for not only the companies within the industry but, more importantly, for the people and communities worldwide.

Manage your impact with the oil and gas industry’s most comprehensive portfolio of fugitive emission-qualified valves. Our Low-E valves meet global emissions standards over their full life cycle using technology you’ve trusted for 50 years—now enhanced to solve today’s challenges, and tomorrow’s.

Processing plant with a blue sky Processing plant with an infrared filter showing the fugitive emissions
Fugitive emissions are the unintentional release of environmentally undesirable gas or vapor from oil and gas operations.
Cameron T30 Ball valve with a globe inside

The right valve, maintained optimally for its conditions 

Selecting the right valve technologies and maintaining them properly is the best way to mitigate and prevent fugitive emissions. Targeting fugitive emissions presents a low-risk, high-yield opportunity to reduce your environmental impact. Schlumberger valve technology and OEM maintenance services and support deliver long-term value and support your efforts to maintain your social license to operate.  

Whether you have an existing installation or are working on a new project, our experts can walk you through your choices of valve types, testing, certification, and maintenance options so you can install what you need and keep it working for years to come.

Our Low-E portfolio includes traditional, well-known ball valve types—trunnion-mounted ball valves, floating ball valves, and rising stem ball valves—along with new technology such as integrated-seat ball valves and gate valves, globe valves, butterfly valves, and plug valves. These valves are certified as compliant with the global industry fugitive emission design standards: API Standards 622, 224, and 641, and ISO 15848-1.

Decarbonize Your Operations
Select low-emissions valves are part of our Transition Technologies portfolio and address the avoidance of fugitive emissions. These technologies reduce environmental impact, helping you reach your sustainability goals by mitigating and preventing direct or unintended emissions.
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Low-E Valves
Learn more about how Cameron is enhancing its portfolio to help you make better valve choices.
596
million metric tons of Methane emitted to the atmosphere annually†
86×
STRONGER GLOBAL WARMING POTENTIAL IN METHANE as compared with CO2†
63%
OF TOTAL FOSSIL CH4 EMISSIONS attributed to  UPSTREAM AND DOWNSTREAM OIL AND GAS SECTORS‡

† Source: R B Jackson et al. 2020. Increasing anthropogenic methane emissions arise equally from agricultural and fossil fuel sources. Environ. Res. Lett.15 071002. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab9ed2

‡ Source: M. Saunois et al., The Global Methane Budget 2000–2017. 2020.  Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12: 1561–1623, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-1561-2020.

Standards and Regulations

Industry standards and government regulations about fugitive emissions and low-emission valves

Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Title 40, Part 61 (40 CFR Part 61): National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants.

40 CFR Part 63: National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Source Categories.

API Standard 622, Type Testing of Process Valve Packing for Fugitive Emissions. Test fixture for temperature and mechanical cycling of just the carbon graphite packing material.

API Standard 624, Type Testing of Rising Stem Valves Equipped with Graphite Packing or Fugitive Emissions. Linear gate and globe valve with API 622-compliant packing.

API Standard 641, Type Testing of Quarter-Turn Valves for Fugitive Emissions. Ball, butterfly, and plug valves with API Standard 622-compliant packing if graphite is used or various elastomer options at a range of temperatures.

ISO 15848-1, Industrial Valves—Measurement, Test and Qualification Procedures for Fugitive Emission.

Valve Testing Considerations

Specialty testing requirements for Low-E valves

With multiple international standards and differing parameters, care must be taken to ensure that qualifications meet expectations of the operator and regulatory bodies, taking into account test media and temperatures in addition to sizes and pressure ratings.

A qualification test performed with helium, for example, may not provide results that are relatable to verification methods used in the field, such as EPA Method 21. This is not to say that qualifications performed with helium would not be acceptable; it is, however, advisable to ensure that it is acceptable to all parties.

High-pressure and larger-diameter valves also introduce potential issues. Quarter-turn valves larger than 24 in and greater than ASME B16.34 Class 1500, for which API Standard 641 would ordinarily apply, are outside of the scope of the standard. This opens the question of how large, high-pressure valves should be qualified when they must meet regulatory requirements.

Currently there are no standards specific to wellhead valves.

These points highlight the need to fully understand the various criteria and implications when seeking to source emissions-compliant valve products. 

Standards will also evolve in time, so due diligence will be required to ensure that products meet the intent of future revisions and requirements.

Repair and Redressing Considerations

Special requirements for repairing Low-E valves so they maintain their capability to prevent unwanted emissions

Qualification standards for fugitive emission-compliant valves are complex. Aside from size, pressure rating, and valve style, some other aspects affect continued compliance. Seal material design, sealing stress, shape, and construction are some of those aspects, along with surface finish and tolerance classes.

A product that does not maintain these aspects would no longer be considered covered by its original FE certification. It is, therefore, vital that repair and redressing take account of these parameters to ensure that a refurbished or repaired product continues to be covered by its original FE compliance certification.

Count on us, as your trusted partner and OEM for repairs on the Cameron and Schlumberger family of fugitive emission-certified valves.

Climate action

Our 2018 Global Stewardship initiatives centered on prioritizing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) that we could most impact. Our alignment with the UN SDGs drives reducing environmental impacts and fostering technology innovation.

 

Our position as a global technology leader gives us an unparalleled ability to address climate change with technologies that help you increase operational performance while reducing or avoiding emissions, lowering water usage, improving chemistry applications, and increasing oil and gas production. Our corporate strategy is to continue developing a system-level view to fully optimize the finding, development, and production of new and existing oil and gas resources. Increasing the volume and quality of accessible data better equips the E&P industry to make informed decisions that reduce subsurface risk, optimize production, reduce resource consumption, and save greenhouse gas emissions.

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Icons

UN SDG 13: Climate Change

Recent studies suggest that the global oil and gas industry emits up to 3.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas to the atmosphere each year. This emission level represents a significant environmental impact. Targeting fugitive emissions presents a low-risk, high-yield opportunity to reduce environmental impact: Methane is the main component of natural gas and also a powerful greenhouse gas (GHG).

Schlumberger has invested seven years in the design, engineering, manufacturing, and testing of our comprehensive valve portfolio to meet or exceed fugitive emission standards. We continue to take a leadership role in researching and developing industry qualification standards for fugitive emissions. 

Although few operators in the upstream and midstream sectors demand or specify low-emission valves today, we are already manufacturing and delivering valves that meet the challenging design standards for oil and gas production, processing, transmission, and storage applications. And we encourage proper OEM maintenance and repair to ensure that the valves continue to perform reliably over the long term.

Sustainable Development Goal #13 - Climate Action
UN SDG 13 goal: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

Low-Emission Valves Offerings

GROVE B7
Side-entry ball valve
1 1/2- to 20-in sizes, ANSI 2500.
GROVE B4
Side-entry ball valve
1 1/2- to 4-in sizes, ANSI 150 to 1500.
GROVE IST
Integrated seat technology ball valve
Overcome ball flexing to 10,000 psi.
WKM 320 Series
Floating ball valves
Internal cavity relief while maintaining bidirectional sealing capability.
Stainless Steel NEWCO
Gate, globe, and check valves
Standardized production for uniform quality.
NUTRON T3
Floating ball valves
Full- and reduced-port designs, ASME 150 to 2500.
WKM 370D Series
Trunnion-mounted ball valves
Variety of ANSI and API Spec 6D designs.
Triple Offset Valve
Reliable, repeatable isolation performance
Incorporates true triple-offset geometry to provide bubble-tight sealing.
GROVE B5
Side-entry ball valve
6- to 60-in sizes, ANSI 150 to 1500.
GENERAL VALVE Twin Seal
Plug valve
Enact a bubble-tight verifiable dual seal without seal abrasion.
Cast-Steel NEWCO
Gate, globe, and check valves
2- to 60-in sizes and raised-flange, ring-type joint, and butt-weld end connection options.
Forged-Steel NEWCO
Gate, globe, and check valves
Ideal for downstream applications and critical power-industry applications.

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