Statoil is to use titanium in the replacement of 40 separate fire protection systems on its three platforms, Statfjord A, B and C, over a period of 2â3 years. The order is valued at about NOK 40 million. The titanium pipes to be used in the new systems will be supplied by the Swedish company Permascand. Statoil has recently carried out tests on the materials used in fire protection equipment. They were subjected to a âjet fireâ?, with temperatures well in excess of 1000°C. The titanium pipes do not appear to have suffered any adverse effects.
Titanium pipes have been used in the Norwegian oilfields since 1995 because of the material’s corrosion resistance and durability at high temperatures, even during explosive fires. On earlier platforms, which were built at the beginning of the 1980s, other materials were usually used, e.g. carbon steel and copper nickel â materials which, in the long term, have difficulty in resisting corrosion resulting from the use of seawater in the sprinkler systems.
