Stream-Flo Industries – a Canadian leader in wellhead and check valve manufacturing – says many factors set it apart, including its inventories, locations and local technical capabilities.

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Before Duncan McNeill founded Stream-Flo Industries in 1962, most products in the general oil field industry were manufactured in the United States and he wanted to create a Canadian presence in the market. He remains the company's chairman, having built its culture of loyalty, integrity, customer service and trust, says President and COO Al Schreiner.

Today, the company manufactures wellheads, gate valves, specialty products, check valves and safety systems, with offices and facilities in 12 Canadian cities and towns as well as Texas, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates and Algeria. It is the largest Canadian-owned player in the market, and larger than its U.S.-owned competitor's Canadian operations, Schreiner says.

"Our size sets us apart - our inventories, locations and local technical capabilities from an engineering and sales perspective are key factors," he says.  Local decision making plays a large role in maximizing customer satisfaction.

Stream-Flo has remained successful thanks to its stable management and family culture, he notes. The company maintains a large engineering and technical staff in Edmonton, close to oil sands clients and in the heart of the oilfield service industry. "Customers can come to the plant, witness design and participate," Schreiner says. "We can also bring our technical people to their offices - it's very handy."

The company is a leader in steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) wellheads and several other specialty products including check valves. Its list of applications includes:

•  Natural gas storage
•  Emergency shut-down valves
•  Production blowout preventors
•  Fluid and gas injection
•  Pipeline check valves
•  Oil and natural gas processing
• Crude oil and natural gas production
  

Stream-Flo says its Crown gate valve products "feature full bore/through-conduit design, sealing without lubrication, [as well as] in-line repairability and protected long-life seats.

"Standard gate valve models can also be equipped with single- or double-acting hydraulic and pneumatic actuators with manual override, and fail-safe closed or open systems," the company explains. Crown gate valves are available for a variety of applications, including wellhead, Christmas tree, ESD, choke and kill manifold systems.

"Stream Flo's Crown products include a complete line of wellhead and Christmas tree components for use in upstream oil and gas exploration and production," it adds. "Working pressures range from 2,000 to 15,000 [pounds per square inch], and they are designed for single and multiple completions, high and low temperatures and for all types of service conditions." A separate division repairs and reconditions used wellheads and gate valves for recycling in the industry.

Stream-Flo says it offers a complete line of linear spring return gate valve actuation systems in self-contained hydraulic, hydraulic, electro-hydraulic and pneumatic configurations. "Stream-Flo's actuation systems are readily adaptable to Stream-Flo's Crown gate valve line of non-wire and wire cutting gate valves, and virtually any other brand or type of gate valve," the company says.

"Stream-Flo Crown swing check valves are vital shutdown valves and safety devices engineered to provide a high integrity, first-line of defense in the event of unwanted reverse flow. Analysis of pressure drop through swing check valves in comparison with dual-plate and in-line piston check valves confirm that Crown valves have lower pressure drops over the complete range of flow rates from initial cracking pressure to full flow."

Crown gate valves incorporate three main gate designs:

•  Solid slab gate - This design is made for demanding choke and kill manifold applications and for use as a safety shut-off valve, operated by a hydraulic or pneumatic actuator, Stream-Flo explains. "It incorporates a bi-directional design with a floating gate, which moves parallel to the seats and effects a tight seal under differential line pressure," it says. "A backseating feature allows the stem bearing or packing to be reenergized or replaced under pressure."
•  Parallel expanded gate - As the company explains, expanding gates give a high mechanical seating seal force, which acts simultaneously against both seats. Line pressure fluctuations or vibrations do not affect the seating force.
•  Split gate - This design features a metal-to-metal seal between the gate and seat. "It is enhanced by a sealing compound that fills a groove around the seat bore to prevent leaks," the company explains. "The parallel nonwedging gates allow the stem to be left nonstressed in either the opened or closed condition. Fully skirted seats provide a continuous protection of the sealing surfaces of the gates. A backseating feature also allows reenergizing or replacement of the stem bearing or packing under pressure."

Stream-Flo Crown check valves are available in swing check, wafer check, piston check and dual plate check valve configuration. The company also offers a range of accessories, which includes counterbalance arms and weights, lever lock assemblies, rovane slam retarders and proximity limit switches.

The company also offers a range of gate valve alternatives. These include:

•  Self-contained hydraulic actuation systems - These safety valve actuation systems require no flowline pressure, compressed air, gasses nor electricity for power. Instead, it uses clean, contaminant-free, closed-loop hydraulics to power and control the actuation system. "As a result, these systems are defined as self-contained," the company explains, "making them ideal for use in remote applications or in applications where a power source for an actuation system is not available, unreliable or is very costly to produce and/or maintain.
•  Hydraulic actuation systems - The Stream-Flo Model SRA hydraulic actuator's sealed spring canister does not breath in environmental contaminants when the systems is opened or closed, unlike most spring-return hydraulic actuator designs. "This feature eliminates the possibility of internal corrosion caused by atmospheric contamination, thereby reducing maintenance, spare parts and well down-time expenses."
•  Pneumatic actuation systems - The company offers a range of spring-return pneumatic piston and diaphragm actuation systems.

The company's Crown wellhead equipment includes:

•  Casing heads
•  Casing hangers
•  Primary packoffs
•  Tubing heads
•  Tubing hangers
•  Tubing head adapters
•  Secondary packoffs
•  Composite pumping trees

Engineering Expertise
Stream-Flo maintains a staff of engineers and technologist whose experience is the backbone of the company's engineering group, it says. Its software systems include CAD/CAM 3-D design, finite element analysis and fluid flow analysis.

"This group also includes an extremely active research and development team, which work continuously to come up with new equipment design," the company says. "Extensive testing is conducted in-house to ensure quality performance in the field."

Stream-Flo's testing facilities include systems such as:

•  The loop rack - Equipment is placed in the test loop and fluid is pumped through at varying flow rates to determine flow characteristics.
•  Environmental test chamber - Temperature conditions are controlled to test product functionality at extreme temperature.
•  Erosion test chamber - Equipment is subjected to fluid containing abrasive particles to test erosion resistance.
•  Thermal test - Wellhead products go through thermal cycle testing.
•  Hyperbaric test chamber - This chamber can exert both internal and external pressure to test the stability of equipment such as subsea check valves, the company says.
•  Hanger load testing - The load capacity of casting and tubing hangers is measure when a hydraulic ram is used to apply tension.

Corporate Family
Stream-Flo operates its headquarters and a 300,000-square-foot manufacturing plant on a 25-acre site in Edmonton. In addition to Stream-Flo Ltd., the Stream-Flo Corporate Group also includes two sister companies.

Master Flo Valve Inc., established in 1979, is a leading manufacturer of production chokes, drilling chokes and control valves. It maintains an 80,000-square-foot head office and manufacturing plant in Edmonton.

ERC Industries Inc. was established in 1999 to satisfy the demand of managing remanufactured equipment. It operates a 35,000-square-foot facility in Edmonton, as well as an ERC welding/cladding facility in Edmonton, which was established in 2004. The newer, 10,000-square-foot facility specializes in internal bore cladding. It features two automated AMET welding machines to complement an existing Jet Line machine and pre-heat oven.

The group's other locations include a sales and manufacturing office in Calgary, and service and distribution centers in Brooks, Edson, Grande Prairie, Red Deer, Slave Lake, Rainbow Lake and Fort McMurray, Alberta; Fort St. John and Fort Nelson, British Columbia; and Estevan, Saskatchewan.

Stream-Flo has also established a regional representative office in Jakarta to service its Pacific Rim customers. Two offices in Houston - one for wellhead products and one for the check valve product line - support the company's network of stocking distributors and representatives throughout the United States. The company also has a service and distribution center in Kilgore, Texas.

Its regional office in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emerites, manages its Middle East markets. It opened a 5,400-square-foot base in Hassi Messaoud, Algeria in 2005 to provide technical support, repair after-sales service and spare parts. "The corporate group has an extensive network of agents who represent and sell our products throughout the rest of the world," the company says.

'Follow the Market'
The company primarily serves customers in Canada, with 20 to 25 percent of its business in the United States and other international locations. "We tend to grow organically and have a steady growth cycle," he says. "We increase in business volume and open new locations. As the market moves, we follow the market, and likewise in international markets."
In addition to the general market Stream-Flo focuses particularly on new areas where Canadian companies are going international. "This is happening more and more in the last 10 years," he says. "I think it's partly the maturity of the western Canadian sedimentary basin and a broader horizon taken by our clients seeking reserves in other parts of the world. It's another opportunity to expand our business and grow with the industry."

The Canadian market is currently weak because of low natural gas prices, Schreiner says, exacerbated by foreign exchange rates. "We're trying to divert our supply bases to mitigate the impact of the strong Canadian dollar on international sales, for one, and trying to continue to modify our contracts so we can share the foreign exchange risk with our customers."

Stream-Flo will continue to explore opportunities to expand, particularly in its high-end, critical application sector of the business, he adds. "We are expanding our product range for demanding applications," he says. "In our business, that would be critical service for high-pressure or unusual corrosive conditions, or difficult and unique completions. It's a strength of the company and follows our technical capabilities."

PSAC
Stream-Flo is a member of the Petroleum Services Association of Canada (PSAC), a national trade association that represents the service, supply and manufacturing sectors within the upstream petroleum industry. PSAC includes 270 diverse member companies that employ more than 68,000 people and contract almost exclusively to oil and gas exploration and production companies, the organization says. PSAC member companies represent over 80 percent of the business volume generated in the petroleum services industry, it adds.

"For 25 years, PSAC has provided a unified voice for petroleum services industry members. Today, our focus remains on the four key functions that benefit our members most: advocacy, knowledge, communication and leadership," the group states. "We act as industry advocates in critical regulatory changes. We foster the sharing of pertinent and timely knowledge. We facilitate communication among members, and between members and other groups. Finally, we promote leadership, for our members and for our industry. For more detail, read the latest issue of PSAC's quarterly magazine On Stream."

PSAC was founded in 1981 by a group of petroleum services industry representatives who had first joined forces when they traveled to Ottowa to protest the National Energy Program (NEP) in 1980. According to PSAC, this lobbying trip helped lead to the incorporation of PSAC as an association to support the petroleum industry's battle to change the NEP.

"In 1985, PSAC members celebrated the end of the NEP," PSAC explains. "Members agreed PSAC should continue as the voice of the petroleum services industry. The same year, PSAC merged with the Canadian Oilfield Manufacturers Association. Since 1981, PSAC has achieved an impressive list of accomplishments on behalf of the Canadian petroleum service, supply and manufacturing industry."

The products and services provided by PSAC members include: cementing, drilling, drilling fluids, environmental services, equipment rentals, industry supplies, manufacturing, perforating, pipelines, production testing, safety equipment and services, snubbing, trucking, well servicing, wireline and more. PSAC members are listed in the Membership Directory.