Posted on 07 Jan 2011
China’s leading seamless pipe maker, Tianjin Pipe Group Corp (TPCO), is making progress in developing substitutes for pipe imports by launching commercial production some high-specification oil country tubular goods. The first commercial order for the nickel-base alloy tubing was 88.9×6.45mm tubing made of TP125 TDJ-G3 grade steel with TPCO’s TP-G2 premium connections. In November 2010, TPCO supplied Chinese oil company Sinopec with 9,857 m of the tubing. The products are being used in Sinopec’s Puguang oil/gas field in southwest China's Sichuan province, according to a TPCO release. SBB learns from the company that China primarily relies on imports of G3 oil tubing for its supplies. The tubing is in great demand as its oil/gas reservoirs in the central and western regions of the country have corrosive drilling conditions including hydrogen sulphide, carbon dioxide and sulphur. TPCO jointly developed the products with two other partners - round billet maker Fushun Special steel and stainless pipe maker Jiuli Hi-Tech Metals Co (Jiuli). Baosteel claimed it’s the first domestic producer of nickel-base G3 oil tubing when it launched commercial production in the first half of 2009. Raw material for the tubing comes from Baosteel’s special steel production subsidiary in Shanghai, SBB notes.
