EXHIBITIONS 3 The landing station of North-
Stream-Pipeline in Germany. photo: Messe Düsseldorf
December, for instance, saw the beginning of the Trans-Afghanistan- Pakistan Pipeline, with a length of nearly 1,700 km. According to AHK (the German Industry Delegation for Central Asia), once the pipeline is operational, it will convey around 33 billion cubic metres of gas from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. It is expected to become operable within the next three to four years. Experts see the Trans-Afghanistan-Pakistan Pipeline as providing vital coverage of the rapidly growing energy needs on the subcontinent.
In the United States pipeline construction is being fuelled by liquid gas. At the moment, for instance, a 440-kilometre line is being built straight across Texas, past Dallas and Houston right up to Mont Belvieu on the Gulf of Mexico. ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe is supplying 44,000 tonnes of hot-rolled sheets, grade X70, for the relevant pipes. “This is a micro- alloyed fine-grain steel with a yield strength of 485 megapascal,” says ThyssenKrupp Steel.
and also control systems and telecommunications equipment. However, the construction of
pipelines is not limited to Southern and Eastern Europe. The North Sea, too, is rich in energy sources. At the end of 2019 extraction is set to start at the Johan Sverdrup Oil Field in the Utsira High Region, 140 km off the Stavanger coast. The oil deposit is situated 120 metres below sea level and has a depth of 1,900 metres. The first facilities to be erected will be the processing platform, riser platform, drilling platform and living quarters platform. Day by day, a pipeline will then take some 550,000 barrels of oil to the Mongstad Terminal in Horaland, Norway. It has been estimated that between 1.8 and
2.9 billion barrels will be extracted and that production will not finish until 2050. The contract to produce and supply longitudinal seam-welded corrosion-resistant pipes for the Johan Sveldrup Oil Field has gone to Butting. “The order volume has already reached nearly 1,000 tonnes of Duplex, Superduplex and 6 Moly,” says Christian Schenk from the CRA Pipes Department. Diameters range from 6” to 30”, with wall thicknesses between 3 and 14 mm.
Liquid gas is fuelling pipeline construction in the United States
Pipeline construction has become vigorous throughout the world. Last
Pipeline steel for extreme requirements Pipeline steel for the transportation of oil and gas must meet special requirements, some of them extreme. In fact, this is not just a matter of durability: “It is equally vital to withstand high operating pressure during transportation, high mechanical strain and indeed environmental conditions such as extreme temperatures.” The company emphasises that “this requires specific material properties in terms of strength and toughness.” The hot-rolled sheets were supplied in Turkey where Borusan Mannesmann produces the pipes. This is also the first time that Borusan, the exclusive pipe suppliers for the Texas pipeline project, are producing 24.5-metre coiled pipes. Final on-site manufacturing will take place in the United States in 2016.
www.internationalmetaltube.com
Whether it is North Stream,
TAP or the Johan Sverdrup Oil Field, pipelines must be resistant to adverse conditions. This is ensured through suitable external coating, so that the steel pipes are protected from corrosion. “Any pipelines that are intended to run underground or in the water must have a protective coat applied directly to the metal surface,” says Deutsche Lackinstitut (the German Institute of Paint). A coat between 300 and 500 micrometres provides effective long-term protection against corrosion and against other environmental influences.
Coating ensures durability One frequent option, according to the Institute, is an epoxy powder coat, whereby a polyethylene layer is wrapped around the pipe which is then cooled down, usually by means of a water curtain, so that it can be loaded and transported. “The polyethylene coat provides additional protection from mechanical impact, especially underwater and underground.” Sometimes the outer coat is not enough. For instance, when the North Stream Pipeline was created (1,223 km), each pipe had a concrete shell added to it, with a thickness of 60 to 112 mm. “This means it can be securely lodged on the seabed at a depth between five and 250 metres, so that it cannot shift,” says the Institute.
Pipes also need to be coated inside. So-called flow efficiency coats (or simply: flow coats) reduce the amount of friction between the gas and the inner surface of the
4 IMT September 2016 33
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