No. 374: An oil well tube with a high degree of strength and corrosion resistance for the development of deep sea drilling (December 8, 2011)

Sumitomo Metals developed an oil well tube stronger and more corrosion resistant than the existing products despite a lower production cost. It is designed for deep sea drilling to develop oil fields and gas fields to meet the demand of oil majors for lower development cost. Deep sea drilling in search of oil fields and gas fields needs more technologically advanced oil well tubes. Sumitomo’s newly developed tube is called “Super 17 chrome steel” that is a stainless seamless pipe containing chrome (17%) strong to the corrosion caused by carbon dioxide gas.

Currently, the oil well tube containing chrome (13%) is widely used for oil fields that contain lots of carbon dioxide gas. However, the temperature is nearly 200 degrees centigrade in the point deeper than 6,000 m, and corrosion develops to make the currently-used 13 chrome tube liable to crack. In this circumstance, a special steel tube containing such expensive alloyed metals as nickel and molybdenum is indispensable. A special tube is very expensive because it needs cold working after hot rolling to increase strength and because it contains expensive alloyed metals. However, Sumitomo’s new product does not need cold working, and the content of expensive alloyed metals is low. In addition, it can be produced using the same manufacturing facilities used for 13 chrome tubes.