Corrosion resistance – the facts

Published:  18 October, 2013

Corrosion can be a major problem in offshore oil & gas applications. UDEE’s Ed Holden spoke with Steve McBride, product sales manager Fluid Controls & Instrumentation, Parker Hannifin, and Jos de Kruijk, sales engineer Marine/Oil/Gas at Eaton Industries LP, about the reasons corrosion can occur, the materials that can best withstand such issues, and how the environmental conditions in the North Sea differ from wells built in other areas of the globe

With the presence of extreme corrosive elements such as hydrogen sulphide, carbon dioxide, brine and a whole range of hazardous chemicals compounded by extreme temperatures and pressures, there are few more arduous environments than offshore. Therefore applications that are resistant to corrosion can make the difference between efficient long-term operation or increased downtime, unscheduled maintenance and lost production. At worst, equipment constructed of the wrong materials can lead to catastrophic failure and potential human, environmental and economic loss.

And aside from the need to shutdown plant or equipment to repair, replace or carry out preventative maintenance on corroded items, there are also issues that include expensive overdesign to compensate for anticipated corrosion, decreases in system efficiency and related failures of adjacent equipment to consider and contend with. Corrosion due to the presence of extreme corrosive...