A 24 inch crude gate valve stem leak treated inside a shutdown window

The valve and its duty

The valve was a 24 inch, 400 class gate valve in crude oil service. It served a crude pipeline, so any intervention had to respect the operating schedule.

The operator reported a visible leak from the stem of the valve. We assessed worn lantern rings and O-rings in the stem packing as the likely cause.

An assessment like this is screening evidence, not a full strip-down inspection. It guides product selection without dismantling the valve or breaking containment.

The intervention

We prescribed stick sealant injected into the stem packing under high pressure. The operator scheduled the work inside a pipeline shutdown of two to three days.

1. Our technician flew in with the sealant sticks and the injection equipment.
2. He injected the stick sealant into the packing space under controlled pressure.
3. He completed the injection, checked the stem area and flew out the same day.

The whole job used one site day of that shutdown window. Short windows suit this method because no packing is removed and nothing is dismantled.

What our products did

Stick sealant is a solid grade made for stem packing and gland areas. Under injection pressure it flows into the packing set and fills leak paths.

The aim was to restore a seal around the worn rings without replacing them. Stem injection avoids removing packing from a valve that must stay available.

Controlled injection follows the fitting, valve and pressure checks in our written procedures.

The valve packing systems guide explains stem packing construction and its treatment options.

The outcome and the record

The operator had accepted our rates in writing before the visit. It then checked the completed injection work and accepted it.

That acceptance of completed work is the record we publish for this case.

Explore field services for how we plan short-window interventions like this one.

See the field results from the full directory of live valve cases.