ContiTech Beattie Gives safety the gold medal treatment

ContiTech Beattie Ltd’s has launched two new products to help with health and safety in the oil and gas industry, giving them the Gold Medal treatment at the prestigious Offshore Europe exhibition and conference.

Great Britain Olympic hero Victoria Pendleton joined the Ashington and Aberdeen-based market leader in hose technology for the oil and gas industry to help celebrate the launch.

The six times World Champion, Commonwealth Champion and Olympic Champion in track sprint attended the event in Aberdeen, one of the major showcasing events in the industry’s calendar.

Both of the new products have safety at the forefront of their design. While the first new product is specifically designed to be fire retardant, the second has built-in floatation capability.

The athlete’s success in the Beijing Games in 2008 reflect the company’s own Olympic Challenge of raising its turnover to £42 million by 2012 through further overseas sales growth, developing internal processes and developing new products and services

Victoria also trains using bicycle tyres and inner tubes produced by ContiTech Beattie’s parent Continental group.

Andrew Esson, managing director of ContiTech Beattie, said: “Victoria Pendleton is a national sporting hero and her Olympic pedigree is an inspiration to our team who, like Victoria, have their own 2012 targets to achieve. It was a great honour to have someone who has achieved the highest standards time and again while burning rubber on the track launch our new hoses – one of which has been designed specifically so that the rubber does not to burn when deployed in its own field.

“The Floating Hoses mean that there is now no longer a need for a separate hose and floatation collar arrangement, making life easier for the customer who may previously have had to search for the right matching partnership.

“With the fire retardant hoses, the benefits are clear for customers who use our products for flammable environment. Safety is a priority in the oil and gas industry, so products like these are there to save lives and avoid disasters happening.”

ContiTech Beattie’s Fire Rated Diesel Hose has been tested and is certified by Lloyds Register to OSG/1000/499 to withstand 700ºC for 30 minutes and its typical usage would be for fuel oil suction and delivery, with up to 50 per cent aromatic content. This hose design is also suitable for seawater, mud and other offshore applications, as well as long lasting bunkering applications.

This hose allows the safe use of oil/fuel suction and delivery in high fire risk areas.

High tensile textile cords with embedded steel helix wire and antistatic wires provide the reinforcement, while ozone and hydrocarbon resistant covers lie over layers of heat resistant fibre.

The Floating Hose range, offers Bulk Material, Diesel and Potable Water applications.  The range eliminates the need for cumbersome floatation collars, providing a high quality solution for floating bulk hose applications.

Integral buoyancy layers eliminate the need for separate tie-on floatation collars. This removes the possibility of the collars moving in service and affecting buoyancy, ensuring the satisfactory floatation and high visibility at all times is provided through appropriately coloured bands on the hose body, while removing the possibility of snagging under water.

The high tensile textile cord-reinforced hoses use multi-layers of PE foam for floatation and have black CR/BR blend, abrasion, ozone and hydrocarbon resistant covers.

ContiTech Beattie is a world leader in the design, manufacture and supply of flexible hose assemblies and associated hardware to the oil and gas sector. Originally formed in 1960 as Beattie Hydraulics Limited, a manufacturer of carbon steel hydraulic hose fittings, the firm rebranded from Phoenix Beattie Limited to ContiTech Beattie Limited in 2008 and now employs 97 people, including 82 in Ashington and 14 in Aberdeen, with one in Singapore.