Oct 1 2014
Exova, the global testing, calibration and advisory services provider, has been awarded an exclusive contract to provide material selection and qualification and a programme of mechanical and corrosion testing for down-hole tubulars to be deployed in Maersk’s North Sea Culzean Field Development Project.
The testing programme, which is bespoke to Maersk’s requirements, replicates the sour and ultra-high pressure/high temperature (uHP/HT) sub-surface conditions found in the Culzean field.
Mechanical tests are being performed to characterise the properties of the materials and autoclave corrosion testing is being undertaken, with the aim of selecting the optimum material and qualifying the supplier and manufacturing route.
Phil Dent, technical manager at the Exova Corrosion Centre in Dudley, said: “The Culzean Field operating conditions are particularly harsh in terms of corrosion, due to the combination of temperature, pressure and chloride concentration.
The investment we have made in our specialist corrosion centre in Dudley, and the technically demanding services we provide, means that Maersk has access to the extensive autoclave test facilities required to meet their testing requirements”.
Exova’s corrosion testing capabilities cover a wide range of industry requirements. Exova’s global network of corrosion testing laboratories specialise in the qualification of materials for “sour” service applications and offer standard Hydrogen Induced Cracking (HIC), Sulphide Stress Cracking (SSC) tests and also more specialised autoclave corrosion (Stress Corrosion Cracking Tests), Full Ring and Stress Orientated Hydrogen Induced Cracking (SOHIC) tests.