Gazprom and ChelPipe have signed an agreement at the Russian Investment Forum in Sochi for the development and batch production of pipes for offshore projects.
The deal was signed by Vitaly Markelov, deputy chairman of the Gazprom management committee and Andrey Komarov, chairman of the board of directors of ChelPipe.
In accordance with the document, ChelPipe will adopt the technology to produce pipes from the 25Cr super duplex steel and the UNS N06625 nickel alloy. These materials should provide ultra-high strength and corrosion resistance characteristics to the equipment used in offshore environments.
No pipes of this kind are produced in Russia at the moment, Gazprom said.
It is planned to deliver, test and certify prototypes under Gazprom’s requirements in the course of 2018. The pipes will be used in the manufacturing of domestic equipment for subsea production systems, including manifolds and X-mas trees.
Russian R&D organizations are currently developing subsea production systems (SPS) commissioned by the Ministry of Industry and Trade with support from Gazprom. The first SPS prototypes are expected to be presented in 2019, with comprehensive testing slated for 2020.