SERVICES | SUPPLIERS
of high strength, low carbon microalloyed linepipe steels with niobium up to
0.10%. This new research builds on an
earlier award winning contribution to the
literature in which the research team in
the Salzgitter pipe mill demonstrated the
advantages of the low carbon, niobium
concept process route for the production
of coiled strip for X80 Helical Submerged
Arc Welded (HSAW) pipe production by
Salzgitter Mannesmann Großrohr GmbH.
Many of the world’s current and
planned major pipeline projects often
have to operate in extreme environments
and are increasingly designed to employ
steels at the X80 strength level. The
steel used for such projects has to be
capable of being consistently fabricated
into pipe usually using high heat input
Submerged Arc Welding (SAW) and,
more importantly, must be able to be
field welded successfully using lower
heat input welding processes such as
Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW).
The SZMF project has carefully
studied the way in which low carbon
steels with various levels of niobium
react to the application of these relevant
processes with the above mentioned
welding procedures and the results,
which provide data from weld metal and
various heat affected zone (HAZ) locations, systematically reveal the influence
which niobium microalloying introduces
in low carbon steels intended for pipe
manufacture.
In addition to improving weldability,
this advanced metallurgical design
philosophy may simplify many aspects
of strip or plate production and encourages steelmakers and end users to take
full advantage of the low carbon higher
niobium metallurgical design philosophy
that makes plate or strip manufacture
easier.
High strength plate intended for pipe
manufacture for sour service applica-
tions is also increasingly important and
the recently completed Salzgitter work
also includes a valuable welding evalua-
tion of a newly designed low manganese
niobium microalloyed steel which shows
significant promise following a compre-
hensive worldwide evaluation program of
an industrial heat of the new alloy.
For both projects, it has been demonstrated that all important areas of SAW
and GMAW welded joints readily exceed
the toughness requirements of the most
onerous specifications.
ALTAAQA GLOBAL
Altaaqa Global, a global provider of large-scale temporary power services, has
appointed energy industry veteran, Julian
Ford as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO).
As the company’s CCO, Ford’s remit is
to ensure that Altaaqa Global achieves
revenue growth targets and overall
commercial success, and to facilitate
the formulation and implementation of
innovative global commercial strategies.
Ford’s career in the industry started
at the time when the concept of power
plants on a rental basis was just gaining
ground. He had a hand in introducing
the concept of power project rental to
governments of developing economies,
which allowed them to hire power capacity to address short term energy issues
during times of hydropower shortage or
other generation or transmission issues.
Ford was instrumental in taking the
rental power concept to different regions
across the globe, including Middle East
and Africa, South America, East Asia
and South Asia. Ford also led the way
for the development of the gas-fueled
temporary power equipment market in
the mid-2000s. With keen interest in
markets where gas reserves were not
vast enough to be commercially developed, Ford pioneered a new business
model that allowed countries to monetize
their ‘stranded gas’ reserves to generate
useful low-cost electricity for the national
grid.
GEOTERIC
The release of GeoTeric 2015.3 marks
another major step in the evolution of
Cognitive Interpretation. With the advancement of broadband seismic, there
is a growing need for high resolution
analysis techniques that are compatible
with the complex waveforms of broadband data.
With the 2015.3 release, GeoTeric
brings ground breaking high resolution
frequency decomposition technologies
suitable for both broadband & conven-
tional data.
High Definition Frequency Decomposition (HDFD) utilizes advanced frequency splitting techniques developed for the
complex waveforms of broadband seismic. In line with the rest of the Geo Teric
software it is an interactive, example
driven tool – designed to work in symbiosis with your cognitive capabilities.
This symbiosis encourages progressive
thinking and an improved understanding
of the geology, before interpreting.
The HDFD technique allows you to
reveal at seismic resolution, the detail
of the geological elements in your data
leading to a more precise delineation and
extraction of the stratigraphic features.
WEATHERFORD
Weatherford International plc announces
the acquisition of the assets of Elite
Energy Products, a North American
oil and gas manufacturing and service
company that designs and manufactures
rotating control devices (RCD) and other
specialty drilling equipment.
Elite Energy Products offers an existing infrastructure and manufacturing
capacity allowing Weatherford to extend
the scope of its land RCD and managed
pressure drilling (MPD) technology and
services to include original equipment
manufacturing (OEM) RCD sales to rigs
for permanent installation.
Weatherford Secure Drilling Services
is the recognized leader in underbalance and MPD technology and services
worldwide, and RCDs are a cornerstone
technology that enables MPD operations. Traditionally a rental and services
business, the MPD market is growing as
managed pressure techniques are being
adopted as a conventional method to
increase productivity and well integrity. As a result, demand is growing for
integration of RCD and MPD equipment
into rigs.
The SafeShield® RCD series will continue to be the primary solution for the
Weatherford rental and service business.