Vallourec has recently delivered 1500 tons of forged pipes in ASME SA335 P22 grade for the expansion of the world-class Huizhou petrochemical complex located in the Daya Bay Economic and Technological Development Zone of Huizhou in the Guangdong Province, China. Operated by a joint venture of China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) and Shell, the Huizhou site contains a refinery with a crude oil processing capacity of 12 million tons per year (tpa) and an ethylene plant with a 1 million tpa capacity. The project includes the construction of a new ethylene cracker and ethylene derivatives units. After ramp-up, this latest extension of the complex will roughly double its output capacity to 22 tpa for the oil refinery and 2.2 tpa for ethylene production.
The pipes will be used in several applications throughout the project, including the new ethylene cracker, thermal supply routes, coal gasification units and industrial turbines. Once installed, the pipes will have an expected service life of 20 years in a HP/HT environment, being exposed to temperatures of 540°C at 10.3 Mpa. Product requirements were established during close cooperation between CNNOC, Shell and Vallourec, including several visits to Vallourec’s mill in Changzhou, China, where the customer could observe the precision manufacturing process using state-of-the-art forging tools.
