ChelPipe to produce pipes for Gazprom’s offshore projects

Russian company Gazprom and its compatriot Chelyabinsk Pipe Rolling Plant (ChelPipe) have signed a roadmap for the development and batch production of pipes for offshore projects.

Gazprom signed the agreement with ChelPipe last Thursday at the Russian Investment Forum in Sochi, Russia.

Gazprom said that the agreement was signed by deputy chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee Vitaly Markelov and chairman of ChelPipe Andrey Komarov.

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.

According to Gazprom, these materials, when used to create the equipment used in offshore environments, will acquire such characteristics as ultra-high strength and corrosion resistance. The company added that no pipes of this kind were being produced in Russia at the moment.

The roadmap 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.