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Market information
Messe Düsseldorf GmbH
Pressure is mounting
It is no longer a rarity for oil companies to tap resources at depths of up to 10,000 metres (33,000 feet) below sea level – a development which is of course having a major impact. And it’s also a dramatic change with consequences for the pipe and tube industry.
Easily accessible offshore oil deposits are beginning to run out. So to obtain this valuable raw material from new sources, drill- ing now needs to go much deeper – and this is clearly a technical challenge. Quite often, therefore, xed oil rigs are accompanied by oating ones. According to Evonik, it means laying exible pipelines instead of using rigid steel – lines that need to be protected against seawatercorrosionontheoutside and against oil, gas and water damage from within. “Moreover,” says Evonik, “the deeper you go, the more you need to reduce the weight.”
Steel and plastic
Pipes which are suitable for this purpose have been unravelled and laid, for instance, some 12 km
(7.5 miles) off the Scottish coast, where oil is now being extracted from the seabed via pipelines, using a oating rig.
“The movable pipes have wall thicknesses of at least 6 cm (2.4 inches),” says Evonik. Also, they have at least eight coats, some made from steel and others from VESTAMID® NRG polyamide. While the steel coats mainly serve to provide reinforcement, the plastic layers ensures that the pipes stay tight. “The pipes are resistant to saltwater and also to any of the chemical compounds in the oil.” An inner coat of VESTAMID® NRG keeps the oil safely within the pipelines, which can be up to 350 mm (1.4 inches) in thickness. On the outside another plastic layer servestoprotectthesteelfrom seawater corrosion. “Pipes with VESTAMID® NRG have been laid not only in the North Sea, but also, for instance, offshore near the Brazilian, West African and Australian coasts.”
Pipes are getting lighter
The deeper a company drills, the more it needs to pay attention
to the weight of the pipeline. To enable oil extraction at extreme depths, i.e. below 2,500 metres (8,200 feet), Evonik has worked with the Dutch pipe manufac- turers Airborne. The result is a lightweight composite pipe which consists entirely of VESTAMID® NRG, reinforced by glass bre. The Malaysian mineral oil company Petronas, for instance, is planning to use offshore pipes without any steel whatsoever.
The worldwide extraction of oil and gas on the high seas requires innovative and complex pipes made from high-quality materials. This is the trend which Schoeller Werk has followed for a number of years now. It has developed some highly robust control line and chemical injection pipes, made from stainless steel and nick- el-based alloys and which can be used at a depth of 10,000 metres (33,000 feet) below sea level. They pump chemicals into the oil reservoir and serve as hydraulic control lines for safety valves. “Thanks to the excellent quality of their surfaces and especially also their welding seams, these pipes can withstand extreme conditions, such as high pressure, temper- atures up to 300°C, aggressive media and saltwater,” says Markus Zimmermann, head of Energy Sales at Schoeller Werk. “Users bene t from secure installations with above-average lifetimes.” In addition, the company’s portfolio for offshore oil customers includes a wide range of services, such as the encapsulation, ushing and lling of pipes.
ITAtube Journal No2/July 2018
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