Shougang Group’s Nickel-Based Composite Pipe Unveile

Recently, Shougang Group, in collaboration with a leading domestic manufacturer of straight-seam pipes and composite special materials, successfully overcame technical challenges in deep-sea oil and gas transportation pipelines, developing a composite pipe with a DNV450 subsea acid-resistant steel pipe and an 825 nickel-based alloy lining. This achievement will be applied to a high-sulfur natural gas processing project at Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC).

The project has a natural gas processing capacity of 1 billion cubic feet per day, a crude oil processing capacity of 82,000 barrels per day, and a condensate processing capacity of 77,000 barrels per day. Upon completion, the UAE will achieve natural gas self-sufficiency. This bimetallic composite pipe is one of the core pieces of equipment supporting this mega-project.

As global oil and gas exploration moves deeper into the ocean, extreme environments such as low temperatures and high pressures, high-salt microbial corrosion, and high-sulfur and high-acid media pose stringent challenges to transportation pipelines. Traditional single-material pipelines struggle to balance strength and corrosion resistance. Nickel-based composite pipes employ an innovative structure of “carbon steel base layer + nickel-based alloy lining,” combining high strength with excellent corrosion resistance, significantly extending pipe lifespan and reducing operating costs.

During the R&D process, Shougang Jingtang Manufacturing Department, Medium and Heavy Plate Business Unit, Steel Rolling Department, Sales Management Department, Technology Center, Shougang Technology Research Institute, and the Company’s Marketing Center collaborated efficiently to conduct customized R&D research. Addressing challenges in substrate development such as narrow yield strength control, differences in strength within the same plate, and low yield-to-tensile ratio, the team innovatively designed an alloy composition system and formulated multiple production contingency plans. By precisely controlling the content of harmful elements such as phosphorus and sulfur during steelmaking, combined with continuous casting billet internal quality optimization technology, the performance of the base material was guaranteed from the source. Simultaneously, the rolling model and TMCP process parameters were optimized to ensure the performance and surface quality of thick-gauge products. Furthermore, the team collaborated with pipe mills to tackle high-quality welding process technology, combining nickel-based alloy composite pipe hydraulic bulging technology to overcome the bottleneck in large-diameter pipe forming.

This composite pipe technology not only provides the “Shougang solution” for the project, but will also provide key equipment support for global oil and gas development and deep-sea energy engineering, and promote the competitiveness of my country’s high-end steel materials in the international energy field to a new level.