TPi March 2018

“Our customers are able to generate downstream project cost savings with a welded pipeline solution. The tighter dimensional tolerances compared to other solutions deliver reduced fit up and welding cycle times. These kind of incremental time and cost benefits when added together are leading to significant reductions in a customer’s total project costs,” said Mr Rust. “We also have the benefit of an integrated supply route, which gives us total control over material traceability and product provenance, from steel production right through to the final coated pipe that leaves our mill. And our knowledge and experience of being able to work with our customers, rather than merely for them, means we can provide our expertise at the very earliest stages of a project, to ensure efficiencies are in place from the outset.”

Tata Steel has supplied more than one million tonnes of pipeline for oil and gas projects in the North Sea over 23 years

“Our ambition is to continue to optimise our process design, delivering increased toughness at lower temperatures, whilst ensuring we have the right balance of properties required by our customers,” said Mr Rust. “But to do that requires a partnership approach and we will continue to engage with our customers to develop the required products and services and deliver downstream supply chain solutions. Early vendor engagement is therefore key and we always encourage our customers to discuss their project challenges with us at the earliest opportunity. In today’s low oil price environment, early collaboration between operators and suppliers is one area that can lead to real benefits.” Tata Steel will be exhibiting at Tube 2018 in Düsseldorf, Germany, on stand number F03 in Hall 4, from 16 to 20 April.

Innovation is a constant theme at Tata Steel. Significant research and development resources are focused on new materials and steel performance, further driving an innovative culture to deliver results. As an example, the company launched over 30 new products last year, which is an indication of the degree of importance and investment placed in innovation and testament to the success of Tata Steel’s new product development process. “Our new, high performance pipeline steels are characterised by optimised chemical compositions, increased levels of control during pipe welding and improvements in our manufacturing processes, some of which is delivered through capital investment. There is a direct correlation between improvements in these areas and in low temperature toughness. The fact we have more than 40 years of experience in manufacturing line pipe has given us a high degree of expertise in this field,” said Mr Rust. “We have the ability in our process to full body heat treat the complete pipe, providing a homogeneous microstructure and increased predictability in terms of performance.” The development of the pipeline steels to meet customer requirements has yielded results. The development of one of the low temperature steel grades followed collaboration with an operator who required a reliable project partner with a full portfolio offering for an urgent and challenging pipeline. The requirements exceeded existing small diameter capabilities, so Tata Steel set about designing a low temperature steel. As a result of this innovative, time-bound work, the project was supplied on time and in full, leading to a further two projects with the customer for the new steel. This success also led to the deployment of the low temperature steel for a further two offshore projects in the North Sea with other customers.

Tata Steel Ltd – UK www.tatasteel.com

96

TUBE PRODUCTS INTERNATIONAL March 2018

www.read-tpi.com