Tokyo --- JFE Steel Corporation announced today that it has developed the world’s first API X80-grade high-frequency-welded (HFW) steel pipe with thickness of one inch (25.4mm). JFE Steel also announced that it has received the first two commercial orders for its uniquely thick HFW pipe.

The pipe is being manufactured at a refurbished 26-inch HFW steel pipe mill within the company’s Chita Works. API X80-grade, means the pipe’s minimum yield strength is 555 MPa.

The orders for the new one-inch wall HFW steel pipe were placed by Dril-Quip Inc. and GE Oil & Gas, two of the world’s leading manufacturers of oil and natural gas drilling equipment. They will use the pipes as conductor casing, or steel pipe that is mainly used to secure blowout preventers and wellhead equipment before drilling the casing hole. Shipments to both customers will take place this spring.

As drilling operations for oil and natural gas expand around the world, oil companies are drilling into and pumping from increasingly deep seabeds, requiring them to use steel pipes with extra-strong, extra-thick walls capable of withstanding very high pressures to support drilling operations. As it has been technically difficult to produce such HFW steel pipes continuously with a high degree of accuracy, many oil companies have used DSAW or seamless pipes for conductor casings in especially harsh environments.

JFE Steel, an expert in the production of high-strength, thick-wall steel pipes, developed forming technology for the cost-effective production of X80-grade HFW steel pipe with an unprecedented thickness of one inch. The company also established an integrated system of processes, from steelmaking to pipe forming, to produce this special pipe.

The company expects its new HFW steel pipe to be used not only as conductor casing, but also as high-quality line pipes for offshore pipelines and other purposes.

Going forward, JFE Steel will continue to support worldwide resource and energy development with high-performance, high-quality steel pipes and other steel products.

Figure: Conductor casing

Photo: X80-grade HFW pipe with 1-inch thickness

About Dril-Quip, Inc.
Established in 1981, Houston, Texas-based Dril-Quip manufactures oil-drilling equipment in the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore and Brazil. It reported revenue of USD 730 million in 2012.

About GE Oil & Gas
GE Oil & Gas is a Houston, Texas-based company established by General Electric Company in 1994 to develop oil and natural gas. It designs and manufactures equipment and provides services for oil and natural gas development projects around the world. The company reported revenue of USD 15.2 billion in 2012.

About JFE Steel
JFE Steel Corporation, one of the world’s leading integrated steel producers, was established through the consolidation of NKK Corporation and Kawasaki Steel Corporation in 2003. The company operates several steelworks in Japan and numerous branch offices and affiliates throughout the world. JFE Steel leverages world-class technologies and know-how to produce a wide range of products based on its “Only One, Number One” strategy of focusing on unique and best-in-class products. The company reported consolidated sales of 2,499,814 billion yen and consolidated crude steel output of 30.69 million tons in the fiscal year ended March 2013. For more information, please visit https://www.jfe-steel.co.jp/en.

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