Tube Tech International Newsletter June 2007

Newsletter - June 2007

Welcome to Tube Tech’s third quarterly newsletter

In this issue:

Gulf and Caribbean CCR platformer VCFEs get special treatment

Offshore Europe 2007 is coming - are you ready?

Food, glorious food - it's all more work for Tube Tech

Racing Start for Tube Tech

Tube Tech goes to new Drain Trader exhibition to give money away

Gulf and Caribbean CCR platformer VCFEs get special treatment

Following its pioneering work cleaning a Texas tower (VCFE) in the Caribbean this Spring, Tube Tech concluded many months of delicate negotiations with the successful clean of yet another VCFE, this time in one of the foremost Arabian Gulf states.

A typical VCFE Texas Tower

In the Caribbean, Tube Tech broke new ground by successfully using a 'continuous drilling system' to fully clear blocked tubes from below, as the top header was welded on and could not be removed.

Topside access to the VCFEs in the Middle East was not a problem, although once again ambient conditions proved challenging, with working temperatures peaking at around 50 DegC. This time, however, there was no access available from below.

Each VCFE had 3,100 vertical tubes, 21 metres long and the client estimated that no more than 300 tubes in each exchanger were blocked. Once Tube Tech got to work, however, tt became clear that the number of tubes blocked was almost 3,000. The nature of the contamination also varied unexpectedly across the tube face from coke-like deposits to heavy gum, blocking the full length of tubes. Fortunately the Tube Tech team had taken four alternative systems with them to cover all eventualities and were able to adapt quickly to the heightened challenge.

Despite the change to the original brief, every tube was unblocked and cleaned in just five days, to a level suitable for the client's inspection.

Contact us for more details of our skills, experience and success in completing jobs that defeat other cleaning contractors and discover how we can improve the performance and profitability of your refinery.

Offshore Europe 2007 is coming - are you ready?

If you are in the global offshore oil and gas industries, then Aberdeen's Offshore Europe show, from September 4-7 is undoubtedly a 'must attend' on your calendar.

Tube Tech is doing more and more work in the offshore environment - this year we've been back to the North Sea and the Arabian Gulf, bringing the good news about in-situ cleaning and the huge cost savings it can offer, to more production platforms.

We are saving platform operators many hundreds of thousands of dollars by eliminating the need to transfer fouled waste heat recovery and fin-fan units ashore for cleaning or replacement, because our specialised technology means we can clean right round serpentine bends without them having to be cut off first (and welded back on afterwards). The outstanding level of cleaning we provide also returns plant to duty working better than ever, so productivity and profitability rise.

Visual concept of the Tube Tech stand/booth for Offshore Europe 2007

At Offshore Europe we will also be unveiling two innovative cleaning techniques, specially developed for the offshore market, that will offer savings and performance improvements in completely new areas.

Be sure to make Tube Tech one of the companies you must visit at the show - you will find us on stand 1341 in the Blue Zone - we look forward to seeing you there. If you can't afford to wait until September, why not make contact with us now? We're waiting for your call or email.

Visit the Offshore Europe site for more information on the show - we look forward to seeing you there. www.oe2007.co.uk

Food, glorious food - it's all more work for Tube Tech

The trend towards healthier cooking oils, lower in saturated fats and higher in unsaturated or mono-unsaturated fats, has had an unexpected bonus for Tube Tech's own 'health'. The newer sunflower oils may be better for people, but they are not so good for the plant of leading food producers like the UK's #1 brand of nut snacks, the top-brand manufacturer of frozen part-cooked chips/French fries for oven-baking and the UK's leading brand of crisps/potato chips. Heat exchangers handling the healthier oils are fouling faster and proving harder to clean than they used to with more conventional oils. Tube Tech has been able to tackle these tougher cleaning problems with specially-configured cleaning heads and carefully-matched jetting pressures to take the fouled exchangers back to bare metal rapidly, enabling production to restart sooner - and at optimum efficiency.

Contact us to find out how we can power through the baked-on oils in your processing plant.

Racing Start for Tube Tech

Little did Tube Tech MD Mike Watson know, when visiting the former BP Coryton refinery, that a shared love of fast cars would lead to him sponsoring an up-and-coming racing driver. During business discussions with Mike Richards, a Coryton (now Petroplus) employee, his racing aspirations came into the conversation. When Mike Watson discovered that Mike Richards was seeking some commercial support for his race-prepared Caterham track car, he was interested immediately.

Mike has had some mixed fortunes in the current racing season but recent results showed better form: races at the famous Snetterton and Donington circuits in the UK yielded two first and two third positions. You can see the trophies on the bonnet/hood of Mike's car above.

In the 2007 Caterham UK season, Mike's racing overalls are provided by Tube Tech and carry the company's logo.

To find out more about how Tube Tech can race to the rescue of your plant, click here

Tube Tech goes to Drain Trader exhibition to give money away

www.dtexhibition.com

Tube Tech will be at the UK's new Drain Trader Exhibition in Cheltenham, September 5-6, to recruit professional drain cleaners who hate turning away tough or unusual commercial work and want to develop an additional revenue stream.

The company has already established an agreement with the UK's leading operator, becoming its official hi-tech, specialist partner. Critical, complex or seemingly impossible jobs are passed on to Tube Tech, in return for referral commission.

Unusual projects include drains blocked by concrete or unlikely intrusions and obstructions, such as steel piles. Whatever the challenge, Tube Tech has the expertise to meet it head-on. With its in-house R&D engineering workshop, the company can design or adapt whatever is required.

For the first time, professional drain cleaners can make money from every cleaning job - thanks to Tube Tech.