Rotork wins $14 million valve actuation contract

Rotork wins $14 million valve actuation contract for Mexican oil refinery.

Valve actuation market leader Rotork has won the order to supply hundreds of IQ intelligent electric valve actuators and Pakscan two-wire control systems for a major oil refinery modernisation project in Mexico.

Valued at US $14 million, the contract for Cadereyta refinery has been won after a negotiation period of nearly two years and in the face of fierce competition from manufacturers in the USA and Europe.

Rotork's sales team at the company's Houston sales office, which was the nerve centre for the negotiations, describe the award as "a victory for technical merit over price." Rotork's Mexican representative was also crucially instrumental in winning the backing for Rotork's proposals, offering technical support to Pemex, the Mexican owners of the Cadereyta refinery, and the contractors SK-Siemens-Tribasa from day one of the negotiations.

Emilio Osterling, Latin American sales manager at Rotork Houston, explains: "It was not possible for us to win the order on price alone, but we knew that we could offer a technically superior product package, with the first class support of the Rotork representative in Mexico, giving the customer an overall lower cost of ownership.

"When decision time finally came, Siemens decided that it was better business to use Rotork's proven and reliable valve control equipment - with local support - than to experiment with the others.

Any price difference could easily be reversed by possible problems with product and support from our competitors." The electric actuators and control systems for this project will be built at Rotork's factories at Bath in the UK and Rochester in the USA.

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