JFE Steel Corporation, along with Metal One Corporation, has received an order from Brazil’s Petrobras for 280 metric tons of seamless pipe made out of a newly developed corrosion resistant alloy (CRA). This is the first commercial order for this type of piping.
The CRA, the JFE-UHP-17CR-110 OCTG, will be used on Petrobras’ offshore oil development project in Brazil. The CRA is a new grade that has higher corrosion and temperature resistance. Pipe fabricated with this alloy has a shorter lead-time than duplex stainless OCTG. The pipe, with a thickness of 13.84mm and an outer diameter of 9.625 inches has already been produced and shipped from JFE’s Chita’s Works.
The offshore project will extract oil from the “pre-salt” layer, which lies 3,0000-4,000 meters under the bottom of the ocean waters by Brazil. This pre-salt area is considered to be a highly corrosive environment, so high-end and expensive duplex stainless OCTG was often used in the past for similar types of projects.