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JFE Steel to Supply ERW Pipe for North Sea and Norwegian Sea Oil Projects

09/29/2011 - JFE Steel has received an from Statoil to supply 3500 tonnes of MightySeam® electric-resistance-welded steel pipe for oil projects in the North Sea and Norwegian Sea. Both projects will use the reel-based method to lay the line pipes.

JFE Steel Corp. has received, together with Marubeni-Itochu Steel Inc., an order from international energy company Statoil to supply 3500 tonnes of MightySeam® electric-resistance-welded (ERW) steel pipe for oil projects in the North Sea and Norwegian Sea.
 
JFE produced the pipes, which measure 10.75 inches in their outside diameter, at the Keihin District facility of the company’s East Japan Works. The pipes were shipped in August to Statoil's Hyme and Stjerne projects in the North Sea and the Norwegian Sea.
 
Both projects will use the reel-based method to lay line pipes, which will make this the world's first such application of non-heat-treated ERW pipe. Until now, the reel method, a procedure suitable for medium-scale pipeline, has used mainly seamless pipes or heat-treatment ERW pipes because the procedure requires strict manufacturing specifications.
 
According to JSE Steel, the company’s proprietary MightySeam boasts dramatically improved weld toughness compared to conventional products, even at temperatures below -50°C. Advanced processes developed by JFE Steel control the morphology and distribution of oxides emitted during welding, and checks for flaws along a weld's entire length on a real-time basis. The company said that MightySeam also offers excellent strength and dimensional accuracy.
 
While MightySeam has been shipped previously to customers in North America and Southeast Asia, it has not been used for applications involving the highly demanding reel method. JFE Steel now expects to develop additional business involving MightySeam's use in frigid environments as a substitute for seamless pipe.