Russia-based steel pipe producer ChTPZ Group has announced that its Pervouralsky Novotrubny Works (PNTZ) has successfully tested its new 18G1FA steel: this new variety is intended for the production of hot-worked, cold-resistant oil and natural gas pipes that can meet the standards required by Russian state-owned integrated oil company Rosneft.
Pipe ingots of this new grade were cast at the plant's own electric steel-smelting Iron Ozone 32 unit.
This 18G1FA steel is a low-alloy steel. The plant uses it to make two kinds of pipes whose strength grade depends on the specific operating conditions they will have to withstand. Following the rolling and the rolling heat tests, the 219 mm x 8 mm pipes made of 18G1FA steel were ascribed strength grade L390. After the pipes were thermally treated at the plant's finishing center, the strength grade was upgraded to L415.
Cold-resistant pipes are primarily meant for the development of oil and gas deposits and transportation of oil and gas in very severe climatic conditions.
It took the plant one year to develop production of and test its 18G1FA steel. The experimental batch delivered to Rosneft amounted to 80 mt.