All over the world, offshore oil and gas production requires innovative and sophisticated pipeline solutions using high quality materials. It is no longer uncommon for oil companies to drill oil more than 10,000 meters below the surface.
To ensure long-term profitability, any resource must be used for at least 25 years. Germany’s Schoeller Werk makes its own contribution to the necessary quality and planning assurance with its heavy-duty control-line & chemical-injection pipes for the offshore industry. Germany’s Schoeller Werk makes its own contribution to the necessary quality and planning assurance with its heavy-duty control-line & chemical-injection pipes for the offshore industry. The German company Schoeller Werk contributes to the required quality and planning by producing heavy duty control lines and chemical injection pipes for the offshore industry. Schoeller Werk in Germany contributes to the required quality and planning with its heavy duty control lines and chemical injection pipes for the offshore industry. Their technical design allows them to withstand not only the extreme pressure conditions found in the deep sea, but also extremely high temperatures and corrosive liquid media.
Worldwide, more than 2,000 offshore drilling rigs and many independent wells continuously produce oil and gas. The technical equipment of these plants places extremely high demands on carefully selected stainless steel suppliers. Schoeller Werk took up the challenge at sea 35 years ago and has been a leader in the industry for many years. The company’s base in Eifel not only manufactures pipes for various industries, but also provides technically advanced solutions for drilling rigs.
For one company, TCO Norway, Schoeller Werk, a service provider to Norway’s state oil company, has delivered more than 500,000 meters of pipeline since receiving an order from a customer in the spring of 2014. This partnership is based on high quality nickel based alloys. 825 and 625. Austenitic 316 Ti stainless steel tubes are also available. The delivered pipelines impressed Statoil so much that they set them as the standard for their own specification. In addition to a wide range of materials, a wide range of diameters and wall thicknesses must be produced – Sierra Schöller pipes cover all possibilities. The piping design and related quality tests allow the final solution to withstand internal pressures up to 2500 bar without any problems. In addition, the high quality material, together with the improved surface quality obtained from the wire drawing process, is resistant to salt water and other aggressive environments.
One of the features of the insert pipe is its geometrically precise bending and high welding quality. In principle, the base material does not matter and single pipes up to 2000 meters long can be produced. Internal mandrels (plugs) are used to level the inner surface of the longitudinal seams. In combination with an external mandrel, the initial pipe cross-section can be reduced by up to 50%. Overall, this is a longitudinally welded solution that gives the impression of a seamless pipe. Observation of the microstructure of the material showed that the weld was barely visible even after the pipe was drawn. These qualities are key benefits for Schoeller Werk offshore customers.
In the offshore industry, these pipes are used as hydraulic control lines for relief valves and for pumping chemicals into oil reservoirs. Thus, they support the entire extraction process. Injection pipes allow rig operators to direct chemicals to liquefy oil, thus improving its flow characteristics. As part of a complex manufacturing process, the pipes are subjected to various tests before installation to guarantee the exceptional quality of the product. The metal strips are welded together at longitudinal seams using a tungsten inert gas welding (TIG) process and then twisted into tubes. In addition to the mandatory eddy current test, the tube is then subjected to an underwater air test (AUW or “bubble”). The tube is immersed in water and filled with air up to 210 bar. Perform a visual inspection along the entire length of the pipes to ensure they are tight. In order for Schoeller Werk to supply its customers with required lengths of 15,000 m or more, individual pipes are welded together on the rails and X-rayed to check that the rail welds are tight and that there are no air holes.
Schoeller Werk also hydraulically tests control and injection pipes before delivery to the customer. This includes filling the finished coil with hydraulic oil and pressurizing it to 2,500 bar to simulate the extreme conditions sometimes encountered in offshore operations.
In addition to clean pipe production, Schoeller Werk also offers customers in the offshore industry a comprehensive package of services, such as sealing pipes with plastic sheaths in so-called flat packs. This means that the tube bundle can be connected to the extraction tube and protected from bending and pinching. Other services include flushing and filling pipes. Here, the inside of the pipe is flushed with hydraulic fluid until the fluid reaches a certain ISO or SAE cleanliness level. The liquid filtered in this way can remain in the pipe if the customer wants it, i.e. the user has a product to use. In addition, the tube bundles can be provided with stainless steel cables or carrying cables. In addition, due to the smooth inner surface, the insertion tube is also very suitable for use as a conduit for the transmission of optical cables.
Schoeller Werk enters the international market in cooperation with the offshore industry. Apart from Norway and Great Britain around the North Sea in Europe, Russia, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Africa, Asia, Australia and South America all count among the key target regions for use of the Schoeller control-line & chemical-injection pipes. Apart from Norway and Great Britain around the North Sea in Europe, Russia, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Africa, Asia, Australia and South America all count among the key target regions for use of the Schoeller control-line & chemical-injection pipes. In addition to Norway and the UK around the North Sea in Europe, Russia, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Africa, Asia, Australia and South America, they are all among the key target regions for using Schoeller pipelines for control lines and pipelines for chemical injection. In addition to Norway and the United Kingdom near the European North Sea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Africa, Asia, Australia and South America are some of the main target areas for Schoeller control lines and chemical injection pipes.