Tulsa Heaters
Tulsa Heaters Inc. designs and manufactures custom-engineered fired heaters, waste heat recovery units, and complementary emissions and efficiency systems for the oil & gas, petrochemical, and offshore energy industries. The privately held, Tulsa-based firm serves major energy customers across 30+ countries.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1985
- HeadquartersTulsa, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
What Tulsa Heaters does
Tulsa Heaters Inc. (THI) is a privately held industrial equipment manufacturer founded in 1985 and headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The company designs and manufactures custom-engineered fired heaters, waste heat recovery units (WHRUs), and complementary process systems primarily for the oil & gas, petrochemical, and offshore energy industries. Its units are deployed in refineries, gas processing plants, petrochemical facilities, and offshore platforms, with active or completed projects spanning more than 30 countries.
The firm's technical core is a proprietary engineering software library refined over more than three decades, including a Two-Phase Process Fluid Program, a Thermal Cracking/Coking Program, and mechanical design tools. Combined with deep process domain expertise (350+ years of combined engineering experience across staff), this library underpins the design of custom units — including once-through and natural draft process heaters, vertical cylindrical and cabin (box) heaters, waste heat recovery coils and systems, and complementary offerings such as NOx reduction systems, SCR/SNCR units, and air preheat systems. The company also performs retrofit and revamp work on virtually every major US heater brand, providing an installed-base service line independent of new-unit sales.
Tulsa Heaters operates on a project-based, quote-driven commercial model: each heater is custom engineered to client specifications and sold through direct technical engagement. Disclosed manufacturing capacity is $70MM per year for new equipment and $15MM per year for revamp work, supported by 40+ direct employees and 200-300 indirect personnel. The customer base is concentrated in US integrated oil & gas and refining majors, including BP, Chevron, Phillips 66, ExxonMobil, Shell, and Valero. The firm holds ISO 9001:2015 certification and conforms to API Standard 560, and operates an annual Heater School technical education program.
Tulsa Heaters firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Tulsa Heaters
- Legal name
- Tulsa Heaters Inc.
- Website
- https://tulsaheaters.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1985
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Tulsa Heaters Inc. designs and manufactures custom-engineered fired heaters, waste heat recovery units, and complementary emissions and efficiency systems for the oil & gas, petrochemical, and offshore energy industries. The privately held, Tulsa-based firm serves major energy customers across 30+ countries.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Tulsa Heaters industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Industrial Process Heating Equipment
- NAICS
- Industrial Process Furnace and Oven Manufacturing (333994), Power Boiler and Heat Exchanger Manufacturing (33241), Heating Equipment (except Warm Air Furnaces) Manufacturing (333414)
- SIC
- Industrial Process Furnaces & Ovens (3567), Heating Equipment, Except Electric & Warm Air Furnaces (3433)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Boilers, Furnaces & Process Heating Equipment (IMAHAKAD)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Heat Transfer Equipment (Heat Exchangers, Boilers, Condensers) (IMAHAEAC), Heat Exchangers & Thermal Transfer Equipment (IMAHAKAC)
Keywords
Where Tulsa Heaters is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Tulsa
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Tulsa Heaters business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Hardware or Manufacturing
- Cost components
- Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- New Equipment Manufacturing: THI manufactures new fired heaters and waste heat recovery units. Manufacturing capacity of $70MM/yr of new equipment. Custom-engineered to strict industry standards including API Standard 560 minimum design criteria.
- Revamps and Reconstruction: Revamping, retrofitting, and improving fired heater systems. Capacity of $15MM/yr of revamps and reconstruction work. THI has executed over 1200 major project retrofits and 700+ engineering studies.
- Spare Parts: Spares for erection, start-up, commissioning, and long-term operation of fired heaters and associated systems. Common spares include heater coil parts (flange gaskets, studs/nuts, spare castings), burner spares (tips and tiles), instrumentation & controls (tubeskin thermocouples), and air preheat/SCR parts (seal kits and filters).
- Technical Services: Heater evaluations, engineering studies, material replacements, design retrofits, and emergency replacements. Includes engineering studies, revamps, field tests, and retrofits.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Pay-as-you-go | Custom quotation-based pricing |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels5 records
Tulsa Heaters product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Tulsa Heaters, Inc. (THI) designs, engineers, and manufactures custom process fired heaters and waste heat recovery units (WHRUs) for refineries, petrochemical plants, and offshore platforms, with absorbed duties ranging from under 5 to 390 MM BTU/hr. The company also provides complementary systems (air preheat, burner management, NOx reduction), spare parts, and technical services including revamps, retrofits, engineering studies, and emergency replacements. THI builds its equipment to API Standard 560 specifications and operates a $70MM/yr new equipment manufacturing capacity plus $15MM/yr of revamp and reconstruction work.
Product overview
Tulsa Heaters, Inc. (THI) operates as a designer and manufacturer of fired heaters and waste heat recovery systems, offering a portfolio of Process Fired Heaters (including crude heaters, vacuum heaters, hot oil heaters, regeneration gas heaters, reactor feed heaters, reboilers, multi-cell reformers, and delayed cokers/visbreakers) and Waste Heat Recovery Units. The company complements its core equipment offerings with Complementary Systems (air preheat, burner management, NOx reduction), proprietary Design Software for heater modeling, Spare Parts, Technical Services for retrofits and evaluations, and a Heater School educational program. THI has manufactured over 1000 new heater products and executed over 1500 major retrofits since 1985.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Process Fired Heaters Custom-engineered fired heaters including crude heaters, vacuum heaters, hot oil/heat medium heaters, regeneration gas heaters, reactor feed heaters, reboiler heaters, multi-cell reformers, and delayed coker/visbreaker heaters designed to API Standard 560 specifications with absorbed duties ranging from under 5 to 390 MM BTU/hr. Built for refineries, petrochemical plants, and oil production facilities.
- Waste Heat Recovery Units (WHRUs) Heat recovery units capturing energy from turbine exhaust or hot gas streams, available in fixed and removable tube bundles with various flow orientations (upflow, downflow, horizontal), compliant with API Standard 560 for both onshore and offshore applications including deepwater platforms.
- Complementary Systems Supporting systems sold alongside fired heaters including Air Preheat Systems achieving 90-92% thermal efficiency, Burner Management Systems with PLC-based controls, and NOx Reduction Systems (SCR/SNCR) achieving greater than 90% NOx reductions with minimal ammonia slip.
- Spare Parts Replacement components for fired heaters and associated systems covering erection, start-up, commissioning, and long-term operation. Common spares include heater coil parts (flange gaskets, studs/nuts, spare castings), burner spares (tips and tiles), instrumentation and controls (tubeskin thermocouples), and air preheat/SCR parts (seal kits and filters). Quotes available via [email protected].
- Technical Services Heater evaluations, engineering studies, material replacements, design retrofits, field tests, and emergency replacements for fired heater systems. Services address operating heaters pushed beyond original design conditions, NOx and CO reduction, thermal efficiency improvements, and emergency replacement needs during turnarounds or after operating incidents.
- Heater School Technical Seminar Annual 2-day technical seminar held at THI's Tulsa offices, covering fired heater process and mechanical design, API 560, and operational concerns. Includes 12 hours of class time and 4 hours of shop visits to Tulsa area subcontractors. Provides completion certificates for 12 PDH or 1.2 CEU credits. Open to THI customers' engineers and operations personnel, with 15-24 attendees per session.
Quantifiable outcome
- Thermal efficiencies improved to 90-92% with Air Preheat System addition
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Tulsa Heaters
Customer profileNamed customers6 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Tulsa Heaters technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature4 records
Tulsa Heaters partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- ClearSign TechnologiescoreTulsa Heaters Midstream is a customer of ClearSign Technologies, ordering ClearSign M1 burners for gas processing facilities. ClearSign's CEO noted that Tulsa Heaters Midstream was among the first adopters of this product line over a year ago, indicating a continued market relationship in the midstream sector.
Scale indicators14 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Tulsa Heaters competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Cleaver-Brooks: Cleaver-Brooks manufactures industrial boilers, burners, and heat recovery systems for process and commercial applications — comparable to THI on the boiler/process-heater side of the business.
- Zeeco: Zeeco designs and manufactures industrial process burners, fired heaters, and combustion equipment for refineries, petrochemical plants, and offshore platforms worldwide — directly competing with THI's process fired heaters and complementary burner systems.
- Hamon: Hamon designs and supplies process heat transfer equipment, including air-cooled heat exchangers and waste heat recovery units, serving power, refining, and petrochemical markets — overlapping with THI's WHRU and complementary systems business.
- API Heat Transfer (formerly APV/API Basco): API Heat Transfer designs and manufactures industrial heat exchangers — shell-and-tube, plate, and air-cooled — serving refining, petrochemical, and process industries, overlapping with THI's thermal and heat-transfer engineering capabilities.
- Victory Energy Operations: Victory Energy designs and manufactures process boilers, waste heat recovery boilers, and fired heaters for refining, petrochemical, and oil & gas applications — a direct specialty competitor in custom process heating.
- John Zink (Koch Heat Transfer Group): John Zink, a Koch Engineered Solutions business, manufactures process burners, fired heaters, and emissions control equipment for the hydrocarbon processing industry — a direct competitor across THI's core heater and NOx-reduction product lines.
Emerging players
- Holtec International: Holtec provides heat transfer and industrial process equipment and has expanded into energy infrastructure — a partial-overlap competitor in thermal process equipment for industrial and power applications.
Broad incumbents
- Chart Industries: Chart Industries manufactures heat transfer equipment, brazed aluminum heat exchangers, and process systems for energy and industrial markets, including applications in LNG, petrochemicals, and offshore — adjacent to THI's WHRU and heat-transfer business.
- Wood Group (formerly Foster Wheeler): Wood's heritage Foster Wheeler business is a long-established global EPC and fired-heater/process-furnace supplier for refineries and petrochemical plants — competing in THI's space as part of a much broader engineering and construction portfolio.
Others
- ClearSign Technologies: ClearSign supplies ultra-low-NOx burner technology (M1 burners) that THI Midstream already adopts for gas processing — a technology supplier/partner adjacent to THI's burner management and NOx reduction complementary systems.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Tulsa Heaters social profiles
Digital presenceTulsa Heaters compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
Tulsa Heaters financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Tulsa Heaters leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Tulsa Heaters funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Tulsa Heaters M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Tulsa Heaters
What does Tulsa Heaters do?
Tulsa Heaters, Inc. (THI) designs, engineers, and manufactures custom process fired heaters and waste heat recovery units (WHRUs) for refineries, petrochemical plants, and offshore platforms, with absorbed duties ranging from under 5 to 390 MM BTU/hr. The company also provides complementary systems (air preheat, burner management, NOx reduction), spare parts, and technical services including revamps, retrofits, engineering studies, and emergency replacements. THI builds its equipment to API Standard 560 specifications and operates a $70MM/yr new equipment manufacturing capacity plus $15MM/yr of revamp and reconstruction work.
Is Tulsa Heaters a public or private company?
Tulsa Heaters is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Tulsa Heaters founded?
Tulsa Heaters was founded in 1985. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Tulsa Heaters based?
Tulsa Heaters is headquartered in Tulsa, United States, in the North America region.
How does Tulsa Heaters make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. New Equipment Manufacturing is the primary driver. The others are revamps and Reconstruction, spare Parts and technical Services.
Who are Tulsa Heaters's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Cleaver-Brooks, Zeeco, Hamon, API Heat Transfer (formerly APV/API Basco), Victory Energy Operations and John Zink (Koch Heat Transfer Group). Holtec International is listed as an emerging player. Broad incumbents are Chart Industries and Wood Group (formerly Foster Wheeler). ClearSign Technologies is listed as an others.
Does Tulsa Heaters have an API?
No public API is recorded for Tulsa Heaters.
What industry is Tulsa Heaters in?
Tulsa Heaters's product category is Industrial Process Heating Equipment. Its primary akta.pro industry code is IMAHAKAD, Boilers, Furnaces & Process Heating Equipment, with a secondary code of IMAHAEAC, Heat Transfer Equipment (Heat Exchangers, Boilers, Condensers). Its NAICS code is 333994 and its SIC code is 3567.