Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel has come to an agreement with US-based multinational oil and gas corporation Exxon Mobil Corporation for the world's first license for patented field welding technology used to construct high-pressure pipelines.
With this technology licensed by ExxonMobil, Nippon Steel will have the right to manufacture the proprietary welding wire. The signing of the license agreement allows Nippon Steel to be the world's first and sole pipe manufacturer having a mill to manufacture X120 line pipe and ExxonMobil welding technology used for pipeline construction.
Since most of the new resources to meet increasing gas demand in the next 20 years are in remote areas, they will require cost-effective transportation options. X120 line pipe could substantially improve the transportation costs of the long-distance pipelines used in the development of remote gas resources.