Project Success Story: Equipping Saudi Aramco's Ras Tanura Valve Workshop with Ventil Test Equipment
- Jul 20
- 3 min read
THE CHALLENGE
Saudi Aramco's Ras Tanura Valve Workshop needed a complete equipment overhaul — one capable of testing, calibrating, repairing, and diagnosing every valve type critical to safe plant operation:
Pressure safety/relief valves (PSVs, PORVs) and bellow-sealed PRVs — the last line of defense against overpressure. If these don't open at set point, or don't reseat tightly, the result is an uncontrolled release or, worse, a vessel failure.
Gate, globe, and check valves — the workhorses of process isolation and flow direction. Their sealing integrity underpins safe isolation for maintenance and prevents backflow into upstream systems.
On-off and butterfly valves — used extensively for shutdown (ESD) and flow-control duty, where response and seat-tightness directly affect containment.
Tank pressure-vacuum ("breather") valves and vacuum breakers — protect storage tanks from over- or under-pressurization, a common root cause of tank roof failure and vapor loss if left unverified.
Every one of these valve types sits directly in the process safety envelope — get their calibration, seat tightness, or set pressure wrong, and the consequence isn't downtime, it's a safety incident. That reality shaped the entire equipment specification.
During the budgeting stage, the project came under intense commercial pressure. Several competitors positioned their valve testing systems primarily on initial acquisition cost, driving the technical evaluations and negotiations toward a straight price comparison. The risk: a fragmented, multi-vendor workshop with compromised compatibility, traceability, and long-term reliability on precisely the equipment responsible for verifying safety-critical valves.
“The conversation needed to shift from capital expenditure to total cost of ownership and long-term operational value."
OUR SOLUTION
ATCO secured the project to deliver the complete setup of the Ras Tanura Valve Workshop using equipment exclusively from VENTIL Test Equipment BV (Netherlands) — the first time in Saudi Aramco's history that an entire valve workshop has been equipped end-to-end with 100% equipment from a single manufacturer.
The scope covered ten categories of Ventil equipment, each addressing a distinct valve type and safety function:
VC40-SRV FLII — safety relief valve test bench for calibrating and setting spring-loaded and pilot-operated PSVs, verifying they lift and reseat at the correct pressure.
HC250 — 250-ton horizontal clamping bench for on-off, gate, globe, and check valves per API 600/6D, confirming isolation and non-return integrity from small bore up to large-diameter valves.
HPGC300-6 — high-pressure gas controller (up to 300 bar) for seat leakage, shell, and actuator testing across the full valve range.
CT800-T4 — pressure-vacuum valve test bench for tank breather valves and vacuum breakers (2"–24"), verifying set points and leak rates to API 2000.
Produal 16 — in-shop machine for repairing valve seats on gate, parallel slide, and check valves, restoring sealing surfaces to spec rather than requiring full valve replacement.
NR10 — disassembly stand and nozzle remover for safe PRV reconditioning.
Optic 24 — flat lapping and polishing machine for precision finishing of safety valve discs and nozzle sealing faces.
PS-06 — pilot valve tester for readjusting the pilots on PORVs.
HC2-BST — bellow seal tester, detecting internal leakage across the bellows in balanced-pressure PRVs.
Space adaptor set — for testing wafer- and lug-type butterfly valves on the HC-series benches.
To win the commercial argument, ATCO reframed the discussion around total cost of ownership: proven reliability, repeatability of test results, high-pressure operational integrity, ease of maintenance, long service life, and comprehensive aftermarket support. Discussions with end users, engineering teams, and inspection personnel highlighted Ventil's extensive installed base within Saudi Aramco, its compliance with Saudi Aramco and international standards, and its track record on previous projects — reinforcing that for valves this critical to process safety, equipment availability, calibration stability, and spare parts support mattered more over the workshop's lifecycle than the upfront price tag.
THE RESULTS
100% Single-manufacturer equipment across the entire workshop — a first for Saudi Aramco | 10 Categories of specialized Ventil test, repair, and diagnostic equipment supplied |
Full Compatibility and traceability across all testing and repair operations | Lifecycle Value Procurement decision driven by reliability and risk mitigation, not price alone |
Beyond the numbers, Ras Tanura now operates one of the most advanced valve workshops in the GCC — standardized testing protocols, higher operational safety, and reduced maintenance downtime, all backed by a single OEM's engineering and support chain rather than a patchwork of vendors.
WHAT’S NEXT
This milestone strengthens ATCO's position as Saudi Aramco's trusted partner for valve testing and maintenance infrastructure, and reinforces the case for standardized, single-OEM workshops across the Kingdom's energy sector. ATCO continues to work with Aramco and other operators to apply the same TCO-driven approach to future valve workshop and equipment upgrade projects.
Curious what a fully integrated, single-OEM valve workshop could look like at your facility?
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