The Steel Supplier for Offshore Application Faces Many Challenges

Ambient hydraulic pressure and bending associated with it are concerns with deepwater pipelines. Pipes need lower diameter to thickness ratios and should be made from higher strength materials for these applications. At Corpac Steel Products, we understand how pipe manufacturing and various coatings can alter stress-strain behavior in offshore pipeline applications. Today's projects are located in ever more remote areas and expose pipe to more extreme conditions than in the past. Can your steel supplier meet these challenges?

Concerns at Different Stages of Manufacture

When steel is manufactured, its chemical composition, cleanness, and surface quality are the primary determinants of its quality. At the plate stage of manufacture, slab reheating, rolling parameter, and cooling parameter affect plate microstructure, mechanical properties, and resistance to corrosion. Formation of pipes must address pipe and weld geometry, weld quality, mechanical properties, and residual stresses on the pipe. Ensure that your supplier understands all aspects of the manufacturing process.

What Today's Market Demands

Today's petroleum projects demand (among other things) steel purity that is up to the challenges of transporting sour gas, high strength steels that demand superior plate rolling and pipe formation, and arctic grade pipe that demands the highest quality longitudinal seam welding. Pipe geometry for deep sea applications must meet tough specifications due to hydraulic pressures and chemical reactions in these environments.

Concerns of Submerged Arc Welded Seams

Mechanical properties and corrosion resistance must meet stringent toughness and hardness specifications, which have to do with welding parameters like consumables and base metals. Misalignment of weld shapes or problems with weld linearity can cause problems in offshore applications. It's critical for project managers to work with suppliers with the engineering expertise to understand exactly what is needed and why it's needed.

Delivery Logistics Effects on Schedule and Budget

Corpac Steel Products understands that having the products that meet specifications is only part of the job. Getting the products to customers quickly, safely, conveniently, and cost-effectively is critical too. A supplier's distribution system can have serious effects on schedules and budgets when there are problems. Choose a supplier with widespread industry experience and the logistics know-how to deliver on promises consistently.

API Steel Casing and Tubing

API steel is used in offshore drilling projects, for drill pipe, drill casing, and production tubing. It may be used in pipe for cement pumping, oil lines, or drill fluid pumping. After production is established, API line pipe is used for transportation of the petroleum product as well as distribution. Corpac Steel Products has extensive experience in supplying products meeting American Petroleum Institute specifications to projects of all sizes in all locations.

API Casing

Casing maintains borehole stability, prevents contamination of water sands, controls well pressures during drilling and production, and is where blowout preventers, wellhead equipment, and production tubing is installed. Casing is a major part of the overall cost of a well. Therefore selection of size and grade of casing, as well as connectors must be made with engineering and economic factors in mind.

API Tubing

Oil and gas are transported from their producing formations to the field surface using tubing, which must be strong enough to resist the loads and deformations that can occur in the production process. API tubing must be sized according to the expected rate of oil or gas production. API standards for tubing and casing have to do with how these products are manufactured, steel grades used, types of joints, wall thickness, and length ranges.

API Connection Ratings and Failure

The API recognizes three basic types of joint connections: rounded thread coupling, asymmetrical trapezoidal thread coupling, and trapezoidal thread casing without coupling. Casing failures usually occur at connections and may be caused by improper design or use, failure to meet manufacturing tolerances, or damage during handling or storage. Your supplier should understand casing failure and why you need the casing or tubing you order.

Your Casing and Tubing Supplier

Corpac Steel Products supplies casing and tubing to projects worldwide and knows how to get products to customers even in remote areas and even when products must cross one or more international borders. Customizing a delivery system to the client can go a long way toward helping projects stay on schedule and within budget. Make sure that your API casing and tubing supplier knows the products thoroughly, and understands the importance of on-time delivery.

Choosing ASTM Structural Steel and Steel Pipe Properly

Design and construction materials are usually designated by reference to ASTM specifications that simplify design and construction since they're matched to engineering needs. However, there are dozens of ASTM specifications that apply to steel building construction projects, so it's important to check that you use current standard designations in your contracts. At Corpac Steel Products we're knowledgeable about these specifications and understand your needs.

Don't Be Afraid to Ask Your Supplier Questions

If you are not sure about availability of ASTM steel products, ask your supplier. Top suppliers have networks that allow them to obtain the exact products you require, wherever your project is located. Your supplier should understand that ASTM specs change and expand, and that a specification that applied 20 years ago may not apply to your specific situation today.

ASTM Steel Pipe Isn't the Same as Round Hollow Structural Section

While ASTM steel pipe is a lot like round hollow structural section material, it isn't the same, and different ASTM standards apply to each. For example, ASTM A500 applies to hollow structural section, while ASTM A53 applies to steel pipe. Often, round hollow structural section with the same cross-section dimensions as steel pipe is stocked and available, so you'll have an easier time procuring round hollow structural section in cross section geometry that matches that of available steel pipe.

Anchor Rods and Bolts

Anchor rods and bolts are not the same, though some people confuse the two. ASTM A325 and A490 apply to cover headed bolts with specific thread lengths and lengths up to eight inches. They're governed by specifications for steel-to-steel structural joints. ASTM F1554 covers hooked, headed and threaded or nutted rods in three different strength grades. Accurate specification will help reduce miscommunication with your supplier.

ASTM Structural Steel Supplier with Comprehensive Knowledge

At Corpac Steel Products, we have comprehensive knowledge of ASTM standards and speak your language when it comes to steel construction projects. When your supplier is conversant in the various standards you require, and when they are experienced in logistics and delivery across international lines and in remote areas, you have fewer worries with your construction project.

ASTM Steel Is Critical to Numerous Industries

Steel pipe (measured on the basis of inside diameter) and steel tubing (measured on the basis of outside diameter) are critical to numerous industries. Tubes are considered structural, while pipes are considered as transport vessels, but both are found in numerous applications, from processing industries to consumer products. In many industries, these products must meet strict criteria set out by industry standards organizations like the American Petroleum Institute (API) or the ASTM (formerly the American Society for Testing and Materials).

Welded Pipe and Tubing

Welded pipe or tubing may be made from a hot rolled or cold rolled steel coil. Cold-rolled steel gives the finished product closer tolerances and a smoother surface finish. Welded pipe or tubing is made when the steel coil is slit to a precise width and then formed, welded, sized, and cut. Today, laser welding can be used for applications in industries with higher purity requirements.

Seamless Pipe and Tubing

Seamless pipe or tubing is made from a metal bar that is pierced, extruded, or gun drilled. The process used depends on the metal alloy used. Further processing after piercing, extrusion, or gun drilling may be required to meet dimensional or metallurgical requirements. Cold drawing and cold pilgering are methods that can reduce a pipe or tube's diameter or change its shape.

Process Industries and ASTM Steel Standards

The chemical, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, food, beverage, and dairy industries are industries that generally require steel tubing or pipe that meets various ASTM standards. These standards specify things like which alloys the tubes must be made of, nominal wall thickness of the tubing or pipe, or the alignment of tube-to-tube fitting required for orbital welding in the industry.

API Pipe and ASTM Standards

Steel pipe and tubing suppliers must be conversant in the various industry standards. For example, API 5L pipe is a type of API pipe that must meet more stringent criteria than a comparable ASTM pipe. Some pipe is made to meet stringent standards, but it automatically meet less stringent standards as well. Therefore, you may see pipe stamped with markings indicating more than one standard that it meets.

The Right Steel Distributor Can Help You Save Money and Time

Don't be afraid to use the expertise of structural steel and pipe distributors early in your project. Choose the right distributor and you can realize savings due to their knowledge of mill schedules, the worldwide market, and timing of your orders. With a trusted steel distributor on your side from early on, you have a better chance of avoiding mistakes and reworks and staying on or accelerating your schedule.

Expect Worldwide Drilling Projects to Increase in Number

Oil exploration is expected to increase in coming years. A January, 2013 find in southern Australia is just one example of a massive oil deposit that could change that country's status from being an energy importer to being an exporter. This particular untapped shale deposit equivalent to hundreds of billions of barrels of oil could well indicate a coming shale boom down under.

Does Your Steel Distributor Know the Market?

Sourcing oil country tubular goods and structural steel from a supplier that knows the industry on a worldwide basis is your smartest move. Knowledge of product availability and steel rolling schedules can make an enormous difference in the efficiency of delivery, helping the various trades coordinate their work better and preventing scheduling conflicts. In some cases, projects can even be accelerated without compromising safety.

Getting Delivery Right Is a Key to Savings

When your structural steel and steel pipe and tubing supplier has a worldwide network of mills, and expertise with delivery that crosses international boundaries and encompasses the "last mile," you will have fewer headaches and can be more confident of scheduling without the hassles of storing products your project isn't ready for yet.

OCTG Pipe and Structural Steel: There When You Need It

Many suppliers talk about just in time delivery, but when your supplier has the experience to back up the talk, you can be confident that your drilling, pipeline, or construction project will have the products required to proceed right when they're needed. Your supplier should know their products well, but they should also know how the projects that require them work and how to help those projects proceed on schedule.

Involve Steel Manufacturer Early for Cost and Time Savings

Choosing your structural steel supplier is important, but do you know how important it really is? If you are able to make use of your structural steel supplier's knowledge of product availability, you can expect fewer change orders, better coordination between the trades working on the project, and ultimately better on-time performance. Does your supplier know about the steel process, the market, and fabrication efficiencies? It should.

Ask Early On About Structural Steel Product Availability

When you bring your steel supplier on-board during the design phase, you can prevent problems that result in redesigns and reworks and the cost overruns that can result from them. When your steel manufacturer is there early in the project, they can provide guidance regarding such things as steel rolling schedules, and processes that can be done in-shop rather than in the field.

What Suppliers Can Bring to the Table

A good structural steel supplier can provide valuable input when they're involved early on, including:

• Information on commodity savings due to coordinated mill run schedules
• Information on materials selection
• Structural steel connection options that can improve construction efficiency
• Field activities that can be done in-shop (such as pre-assembly, coatings, and attachment of accessories)
• Knowledge of industry and technology trends

How Your Choice of Supplier Helps Keep Costs Under Control

Choosing your steel manufacturer carefully and availing yourself of their expertise can help you keep costs down by doing the following:

• Helping coordinate erection schedules, which enhances safety
• Allowing better trade coordination on the project
• Allowing strategic task overlap that can accelerate the project schedule

In some cases, manufacturers can provide input on minimization of material and fabrication costs too.

Making Just In Time Delivery Work

Your choice of steel supplier is critical with the just in time delivery philosophy. When your supplier can precisely pack and sequence deliveries, your project can realize savings. Every construction project is different, but when your supplier has access to a real-time supplier database and current pricing and production data, you can be confident your steel supplier is procuring your materials most cost effectively.

ISO Structural Steel Suppliers Must Have Broad Knowledge

Much is required of structural steel, whether it is hidden inside the structure of a building or exposed to the weather. Structural steel suppliers have to have a keen understanding of structural steel coatings, the right tools for applying it, and strong quality control procedures. For example, coating systems used in today's bridges are quite sophisticated, incorporating zinc primers to protect from corrosion, plus top coats to add further protection and give the desired color or finish type.

Structural Steel Fireproofing

Although structural steel isn't combustible, in the event of a fire, sustained high temperatures can seriously damage non-protected steel, which loses about half its load-carrying capacity once temperatures approach 1100 degrees Fahrenheit. Fireproofing encases steel and provides insulation in order to keep steel temperature lower than the temperature that would compromise design strength. Fireproofing products for structural steel are tested in accordance with the ASTM E119 (UL 263) testing standard.

Exploration Pipeline and Corrosion

In the petroleum exploration industry, resistance to corrosion is extremely important. Steel pipe used in exploration pipelines may have one of a variety of protective coatings internally and externally in order to withstand harsh chemical environments and prolong the life of the pipe. Your exploration pipeline supplier should be conversant in the products used in corrosive environments so there are no misunderstandings about your order.

Drag-Reducing Internal Coatings              

The compressor stations along gas pipelines are primarily used to overcome friction between the gas and the wall of the pipeline. But today, internal coating is more widely used, and these coatings are specifically designed to reduce drag and cut the costs due to compressor station operation. These coatings also cut down on compressor station maintenance.

Technical and Logistics Expertise Are Paramount

Not only should your exploration pipeline supplier or supplier of steel for other purposes be well-versed in the technical demands of your industry, they must have the expertise necessary to deliver your products when you want them, even if they must cross international boundaries to get there. With more industries shifting to a "just in time" inventory program, the steel supplier with the logistics and technical expertise is the one to choose.