Oil and gas operations run some of the most demanding rotating equipment in industry — pumps and compressors moving hydrocarbons, produced water, and process fluids that are frequently flammable, toxic, corrosive, or all three, often under high pressure and across a wide temperature range. The mechanical seal on that equipment is the last line of defense between contained process fluid and atmosphere, which is why seal reliability in this sector is treated as a safety and emissions issue as much as a maintenance one.
At Leak-Pack Engineering, we design and manufacture mechanical seals for upstream, midstream, and downstream oil & gas equipment, engineered to API Standard 682 principles for centrifugal and rotary pump sealing. Whether you’re sealing a crude oil transfer pump, a refinery process pump, a pipeline booster station, or a compressor auxiliary system, our engineering team works from your process conditions and hazardous area classification to recommend the right seal design, arrangement, and support system.
In oil & gas service, a seal failure isn’t just a maintenance event — it’s a potential fugitive emissions release, a fire or toxic exposure risk, and in many facilities a reportable incident under process safety management regulations. That’s the reasoning behind API 682, the industry’s benchmark for shaft sealing systems on centrifugal and rotary pumps: it exists specifically because seal failures in hydrocarbon service carry consequences that go well beyond the cost of the part.
API 682 principles shape seal category selection (by pressure and temperature severity), arrangement (single, dual unpressurized, or dual pressurized), and the auxiliary piping plans that support the seal in service. We design against these principles even on equipment that falls outside API 610’s exact scope, because the underlying reliability logic — categorize by hazard, back up single seals where the failure consequence is high, specify a support system rather than leaving it to chance — holds regardless of pump frame size.
This reliability-first approach matters most on continuous, unmanned, or infrequently inspected equipment, where a seal that leaks slowly for weeks before detection can add up to significant emissions and safety exposure long before it becomes a visible failure.
Oil & gas facilities run equipment across three broad segments — upstream extraction, midstream transport, and downstream refining and processing — each with its own sealing demands. We supply seals across this range, engineered to the pressure, temperature, and hazard classification each stage requires:
As in other heavy process industries, these requirements rarely stand alone — a seal for a sour-service crude pump typically has to satisfy hazard containment, pressure and temperature capability, and long-run reliability simultaneously. We treat that as a single specification exercise, not three separate ones.
Below is a general guide to the materials we typically recommend by oil & gas application. Final material selection is always confirmed against your specific process fluid, pressure and temperature conditions, and hazardous area classification.
| Application | Seal Face Combination | Secondary Seal / Elastomer | Wetted Metallurgy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crude oil transfer (general) | Silicon Carbide vs. Carbon | FKM (Viton) | 316 Stainless Steel |
| Sour / H2S service | Silicon Carbide vs. Silicon Carbide | FFKM (Kalrez-type) | Duplex / 316 SS |
| High-temp hot oil / process | Silicon Carbide vs. Silicon Carbide | PTFE / Metal bellow (no elastomer) | 316 SS / Hastelloy |
| Produced water (with solids) | Tungsten Carbide vs. Silicon Carbide | EPDM / FKM | 316 SS / Duplex |
| Pipeline booster (hydrocarbon) | Silicon Carbide vs. Carbon | FKM (Viton) | 316 Stainless Steel |
We design and engineer our oil & gas seals to API 682 principles — category selection, arrangement, and auxiliary piping plans — for centrifugal and rotary pump applications. Share your pump data sheet and service conditions and we’ll confirm the specific classification for your application.
Yes. We select seal face, secondary seal, and metallurgy combinations for sulfide stress cracking resistance and general sour-service compatibility, based on your specific fluid composition and partial pressure.
Yes. We engineer complete seal support systems — barrier and buffer fluid reservoirs, seal pots, and instrumentation — sized to your process conditions and monitoring capability, not sold as a generic bolt-on.
Yes. Our cartridge and split seal designs are engineered for retrofit onto most existing centrifugal and rotary pumps, including as upgrades from older packing or single-seal arrangements.
Our metal bellow designs are built for sustained high-temperature hot oil and process service where standard elastomer secondary seals would degrade — share your operating temperature and we’ll confirm the right design and materials.
Yes, including seal support systems sized for unattended or infrequently inspected station operation, where reliability and leak containment are the primary design drivers.
Lead times depend on seal size, arrangement, and material availability. For standard cartridge and split seal replacements, we prioritize fast turnaround to minimize production loss — share your seal drawing or pump details with our team for a firm timeline.
Yes. We specify multi-spring designs and abrasion-resistant face combinations for produced water and other solids-bearing media, where clogging and abrasive wear are the primary failure modes for standard seals.
Every oil & gas application runs a different combination of fluid composition, pressure, temperature, and hazard classification, which is why we don’t work off a fixed catalogue selection for this industry — every seal we quote starts with your actual process conditions and reliability requirements. We’re happy to work alongside your reliability and process safety teams where a seal specification needs to support broader API 682 compliance documentation.
Send us your pump or compressor auxiliary specifications — fluid composition, operating pressure and temperature, and hazardous area classification — and our engineering team will recommend the right seal solution for your application. Explore our full range of mechanical seals by industry or send an enquiry directly.
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