Industries — Oil and Petroleum
Abrasive Blasting & Coatings for Oil and Petroleum Equipment
Oil and petroleum work is the most specification-driven part of what we do. Equipment for fuel storage, transfer and process duty almost always arrives with a paint specification attached, naming the surface preparation standard and the coating system to be applied over it. We blast to the required standard and apply specified as well as non-specified systems in house at our Bayswater workshop, so the prepared surface goes straight to coating rather than sitting exposed between two suppliers.
What we handle
Typical oil and petroleum items
The items we see from this sector are usually fabricated assemblies rather than single parts: equipment skids and their frames, vessels and tanks, pipe spools and manifolds, valve bodies, pump and compressor bases, structural supports and access steelwork. Many are new fabrications going out for the first time; others come back after years of service with a coating system that has broken down at welds, edges and contact points.
What they have in common is that the coating is doing a job that matters. These assemblies sit outdoors or in process environments, they are exposed to hydrocarbons and washdown, and getting to them again for maintenance is expensive. That puts the weight on doing the preparation properly the first time rather than on speed.
- Equipment skids and skid frames
- Vessels, tanks and dome lids
- Pipe spools, manifolds and valve bodies
- Pump, compressor and generator bases
- Structural supports, walkways and access steelwork
Coating systems
Which coating systems tend to suit this work
The systems below are the families most often specified for this kind of service. Which one applies to your item is a decision for your specification or your engineer, not for us — our part is applying it correctly to a properly prepared surface.
| Coating family | Where it commonly comes up |
|---|---|
| Zinc | Frequently specified as the first coat on blasted steel where long-term corrosion protection is the priority. |
| Epoxy primers | The common high-adhesion base coat under industrial systems on this type of equipment. |
| High builds and finishes | Used to achieve specified film thicknesses over primer on exposed structures. |
| Hi-temp silicone coatings | Relevant where a surface runs hot in service, such as hot pipework and stacks. |
| Chlorinated rubbers | Come up where chemical resistance in a wet or aggressive environment is the deciding factor. |
| Polyurethanes | Often the finish coat where weather exposure, colour retention and UV stability matter. |
This is general guidance rather than a recommendation for your item. We apply specified and non-specified systems — if you are working to a paint specification, send it through and we will work to it.
Preparation
Surface preparation considerations
Surface preparation is where most of the risk sits in this work. Hydrocarbon contamination, oil films and salts left on a surface will compromise adhesion no matter how good the coating system is, so anything that has been in fuel or process service needs to arrive as clean and as free of residues as it can reasonably be made before blasting. Tell us what the item held and whether it has been cleaned or gas freed.
Geometry is the other consideration. Skids and pipe assemblies are full of edges, welds, bolt holes, brackets and back-to-back sections where coatings characteristically fail first, and where blast access has to be thought about rather than assumed. Sending dimensions and photographs with your enquiry lets us flag anything we cannot reach before the item is transported.
All blasting and coating happens in house at 46 Malvern Street, Bayswater. We do not offer mobile or on-site blasting, so items are dropped off or sent by courier and collected once finished.
Services
Services used for oil and petroleum work
Garnet Abrasive Blasting
The standard process for the carbon steel that makes up most oil and petroleum equipment, removing mill scale, rust and failed coatings and leaving the profile a heavy-duty system needs to key into.
About Garnet Abrasive BlastingProtective Coatings
Specified multi-coat systems applied in house by qualified protective coating spray painters, immediately after blasting.
About Protective CoatingsGlass Bead Abrasive Blasting
Used selectively for stainless components within an assembly, where the aggressive profile and iron contamination risk of a coarser media would be inappropriate.
About Glass Bead Abrasive BlastingThe gas vessel skid shown in our gallery is a good example of this category — a fabricated skid assembly blasted and coated as a complete unit rather than in pieces.
See the gallery →Questions
Oil and Petroleum FAQs
Yes — we apply specified as well as non-specified systems, and most oil and petroleum work arrives with a specification. Send it with your enquiry along with the required blast standard so we can confirm what we can do before the item is transported to Bayswater.
More general questions are answered on our FAQs page.
Talk to us about your oil and petroleum job
Send photographs, dimensions and any paint specification you are working to, and tell us whether you will drop the item off at Bayswater or need transport arranged.