Custom molded rubber products are one of the most diverse products on the market. They can be used in a multitude of industries, from trucking and railroads, to jetliners, farm equipment, oil and gas, and countless others. These products are used in our everyday lives, and can be found in canning factories, garden hoses, hospitals,…

The oil and gas industry faced many ups and downs in 2018. Brent crude oil prices started out at approximately $66 per barrel, spiked to $86, then finished the year at roughly $54 per barrel. WTI crude oil exhibited a similar pattern, starting 2018 at around $60 per barrel, increasing, then finishing at a yearly…

Urethane products come in many different shapes and sizes. If you work in the industry, you likely already know the many different uses of them, but there are many people who do not work in the industry that have no idea how often they might use these products. Urethane products have uses that vary from…

Products made with custom molded rubber are all used in more ways than we could count. These products are used in industries such as the automotive industry, oil and gas, trucking, hospitals, and more. The food industry, manufacturing industry, and so many more also use plastic molded rubber parts. They play an important roll in…

Hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” has given natural gas and oil production a new lease on life. Fracking is done by pumping a slurry of sand, water and chemicals into oil-containing geological formations to produce “fractures” and release gas and oil.  Drilling and servicing companies strive to achieve greater efficiencies, performance improvements and reduced downtime in the…

Whether it’s water, oil or natural gas, drilling straight down into the earth has traditionally been the best way to go about extracting resources. However, the direction of a wellbore can be changed in a number of ways, and so-called “directional drilling” is today a common alternative to vertical wells. Drillers often prefer directional drilling in shale reservoirs because it is sometimes the best way to access the most…

If you have ever visited the mid-west or western parts of the United States, chances are you've seen those giant wind farms that span hundreds and even thousands of acres across prairie and desert lands. In recent years, the same technology used to drive those powerful turbines onshore has been employed offshore to harvest enough wind energy to generate…

Mark Tool and Elite Elastomers entered into a joint venture focused on the research, development, and end-use application for complete elastomeric subsea high temperature thermal insulation systems which can be installed via three methods to include S-Lay, J-Lay, and Reel-Lay. The newly formed company has been named MTE Engineered Materials. The chosen name represents the combined…

Anybody who has worked in oil and gas knows one universal truth: all steel pipelines corrode. We know what causes pipe corrosion and what to do to minimize it. Properly managing pipeline integrity means waging an ongoing battle against general and localized corrosion, biofouling, pitting and preferential weld corrosion. Losing the fight means risking catastrophic failure.…

Polyurethane is the ultimate workhorse. Whether used as a spray, foam, a flexible, spongey elastomer or a solid that is as hard and tough (almost) as any diamond, polyurethane’s versatility means it can be molded into components of any size, shape and hardness. The oil and gas industry demands a lot from its tools,including customization…

Polyurethane components play a prominent role in horizontal drilling operations, both at the surface and in promoting the material stability of downhole operations. You don’t hear as much about horizontal drilling as you do about hydraulic fracturing (also called “fracing” in the industry and “fracking” outside the industry). Let’s take a look at why this directional boring technique is playing such a huge role in the…

To most people, “machining” means transforming raw metal into a specific shape and size. However, wood, ceramic and plastic can all be machined as well. Our clients in oil and gas, mining, manufacturing and food processing have all discovered cast polyurethane parts can also be machined into excellent products with a wide range of uses. Since urethane compounds exhibit a variety of physical characteristics, they can be…

Commercial towing vessels depend on tow lines, also known as hawsers. They also depend on Mark Tool to keep those lines protected from chafing and from the harmful effects of seawater. Whether used for offshore oil and gas operations, dead-ship towing or salvage, the towing hawser is the key element in the tug-tow connection. Hawsers…

Successful J-tube pulls at the world’s deepest conventional platforms require complete confidence in the equipment being used. Your team needs the assurance that pipes and flowlines are electrically insulated and corrosion-proof. That’s why Mark Tool’s SplashTRON-coated pipelines are guaranteed to withstand the process of raising pipeline to the deck of a fixed offshore platform’s jacket…

Polymers are everywhere. In the natural world, starch, cellulose and rubber have polymeric properties. Man-made polymers include spandex, polyester and nylon, as well as plastic. Made up of hundreds of thousands (or millions) of monomer molecules, polymers are sometimes called "macromolecules,” and can be classified according to their composition and properties: Thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) will…