Sosta has used Outokumpu’s 2205 duplex stainless steel coil to manufacture pipes for a natural gas flowline to be installed at the Burhan West field in Oman. The project has been developed by Petroleum Development Oman (PDO). In early November 2007, Sosta’s pipe manufacturing plant in Könnern, Germany will be preparing to tie up close to one quarter of its annual capacity to supply welded duplex stainless steel flow-line pipes for PDO. The project will facilitate evacuation of a mixture of wet gas and condensate at the rate of 1.5 to 4 million cum per day from the Burhan West field to the existing Saih Nihayda Gas treatment facility for further processing and treatment. The 36km-long pipeline will pass through desert and wadis. Duplex stainless steel was selected as the piping material due to the presence of carbon dioxide in the wet-gas/condensate stream, and also because of availability of material given the tight time frame. The current contract, which requires pipes of 8 and 14in in outer diameter, is well in line with Sosta’s specialization. To meet the high corrosion resistance and strength requirements, PDO pipe specifications prescribe the highly alloyed duplex stainless steel grade 2205 and a wall thickness from 5.2mm to 8.7mm. According to Edwin Saathof, Director of Sosta, the overall specifications are the most stringent applied to flow-line pipes. Sosta will be manufacturing and delivering the Burhan West flow-line pipes by mid-2008.
