What Makes FRP Ideal for Oil & Gas Infrastructure?

Fiberglass reinforced plastic (FRP) is used in a wide range of industries, but it truly shines in the oil and gas industry. From offshore drilling to onshore production, few markets pose such rigorous challenges for durability and performance. Here’s a look at some of the key factors that make FRP from Fibergrate stand out.

#1 Corrosion Resistant & Low Maintenance

Fibergrate’s FRP products offer superior resistance to corrosive saltwater, drilling fluids, acids, alkalis, and other chemical compounds. The result is minimal maintenance requirements, a long service life, significantly improved safety, and a lower life cycle cost than ferrous metals and aluminum.

In highly corrosive oil and gas installations, metallic products require intensive maintenance and often deteriorate in a few years or less, requiring numerous replacements within the facility's life. Fibergrate FRP products will last much longer and require little maintenance. Fibergrate systems pay for themselves after one maintenance cycle, and some have been in service for 30+ years.

#2 Light Weight & Easy to Install

Up front, metallic components seem to be the most economical, based on material cost alone. However, metallic materials require heavy lifting equipment and added labor for cutting, welding, and painting.  Metallic grating must also be “edge-banded”.

FRP products require no heavy lifting equipment and minimal labor, are easily fabricated with hand tools, and do not need painting.  Fibergrate grating requires no edge-banding. 

#3 Flame Retardant & UV Resistant

Fibergrate leads the industry in adhering to the most up-to-date standards for ASTM F3059-18 for marine applications. This ensures that we meet the most rigorous requirements for fire resistance with our phenolic grating.

Our oil & gas products also feature an additional UV resistant coating to prolong service life under unrelenting sun exposure common in both onshore and offshore production environments.

Additional Product Benefits

• Slip Resistance
• Impact Absorbency
• Non-Conductivity
• High Strength-to-Weight Properties

See Our Phenolic Grating in Action in the Gulf

A maintenance team at a major oil & gas installation near the Gulf of Mexico was looking for a material to replace the steel floor on the facility reactor service platforms. The customer had to continually replace the metal gratings due to the corrosive, salty air. The reactor was over 200 feet tall, so disassembling and carrying the metal gratings every time the reactor was serviced would be a difficult and unpractical task. In addition, the maintenance staff could not use any method that involved fire or even create a spark, such as welding, to reinstall the grating because it could cause a fire in the reactor.

Learn how 1,840 square feet of Safe-T-Span® pultruded phenolic grating improved the lifespan and maintenance for this facility.

How Can You Use FRP in Oil & Gas?

Here are specific applications within oil and gas facilities where FRP is deployed.

Ready to Learn More?

For over 50 years, Fibergrate has been serving the oil and gas market. Today, our products can be found on offshore platforms, floating facilities, processing skid packages, land-based and offshore drilling rigs, marine terminals, storage facilities, gas processing plants, subsea manifolds, and refineries.

Explore Fibergrate’s Products & Support for the Oil & Gas Market