Oil & Gas Journal - September 7, 2015

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.