Engineering Director, Nick Howard, recently attended a special reception at St James’s Palace, where he had the honour of meeting His Majesty The King following the company’s King’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation.
The visit marks another proud moment for Oliver Valvetek, which was recognised for its in-house Face Seal innovation used in subsea gate valves. The award highlights the company’s continued commitment to British engineering, technical excellence and practical innovation for some of the world’s most demanding offshore energy applications.
Nick has played a key role in the development of the award-winning face seal technology, which was designed by Oliver Valvetek’s UK-based R&D team to improve subsea valve performance, reliability and long-term customer confidence.
The innovation replaces a conventional spring-energised lip seal with a simpler, one-piece PEEK polymer seal. Designed for extreme subsea environments, the Face Seal uses system pressure to strengthen the sealing effect, meaning performance improves as operating pressure increases.
The technology has been qualified for working pressures from 5,000psi to 20,000psi and simulated water depths of up to 4,000 metres, supporting high-pressure and deepwater projects where reliability is critical.
Speaking after the visit, Nick Howard said, “Meeting His Majesty The King at St James’s Palace was a tremendous honour and a very proud moment, not just personally, but for everyone involved in this achievement.”
“The King’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation recognises a huge amount of engineering work, testing and problem-solving from our team here in the UK. The Face Seal development is a great example of practical innovation, focused on improving performance and reliability for customers operating in some of the most challenging subsea environments in the world.”
This latest award is Oliver Valvetek’s third Royal Award and the fourth achieved across the Oliver family of companies. It also represents Oliver Valvetek’s first King’s Award in the Innovation category, building on a long-standing reputation for specialist subsea valve engineering.
The official presentation of the King’s Award will take place in September, providing another opportunity to celebrate the achievement with the wider team and recognise the people behind the innovation.
For Oliver Valvetek, the award is not only a significant milestone, but also a reflection of the company’s continued investment in British manufacturing, in-house research and development, and engineered valve solutions trusted across global energy markets.
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