Colson Valves Completes Complex Project for Beach Energy

The challenge

When Beach Energy needed replacement valves, they turned to Colson Valves, a UK-based manufacturer of Double Block and Bleed (DBB) valves, to supply the order: 18 unique line items across 26 valves — a small-batch, high-variation scope rather than a standard run. There were also several complicating factors:

• The existing site utilised DBB valves from multiple manufacturers, resulting in varying face-to-face dimensions.
• Two previous owners of the asset had left conflicting valve specifications behind
• The scope spanned ½" to 2" DBB valves, including injection and sampling valves, in both carbon and stainless steel
• Extended hydrostatic and gas testing was required, along with Fugitive Emission testing to ISO 15848 Part 2

The solution

Colson worked through the specification conflicts before manufacturing began. That meant a detailed technical review with the contractor to agree a single valve specification – including NDE and testing requirements – from the competing legacy narratives.

From there, Colson engineered all 18 unique lines from scratch, producing new internal drawings, bills of materials and cross-sectional drawings for each. Where a line item needed a specific face-to-face dimension, that dimension was matched exactly, avoiding rework on existing pipework and welding.

Supporting documentation – GA drawings, test procedures, NDE procedures – was produced on a compressed cycle to keep pace with the project schedule. The carbon steel valves were supplied unpainted, in their natural finish, with a protective spray for shipment; the customer applied paint at a later stage as part of a wider valve package, to protect against corrosion.

Bodies, mono-flanges and flanges were machined in-house at Colson's Rotherham facility, with final assembly and inspection completed before shipment.

Outcome

Delivery was achieved 12 weeks from drawing approval, despite the complexity of the project and the specification work needed up front.

About Beach Energy: Beach Energy is an oil and gas exploration and production company with headquarters in Adelaide. Founded in 1961, they operate across five basins in Australia and New Zealand, supplying natural gas, crude oil and natural gas liquids to domestic and international markets.

They also manage the Otway Project, a major gas extraction initiative in the offshore Otway Basin, Victoria, which is designed to sustain east coast domestic gas supply by developing subsea reserves from the Geographe and Thylacine fields.

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