Fine Tubes Helps North Sea Oil Platforms Meet Demanding Standards

The company’s constant innovation of smaller, lighter and more efficient products has established it as an industry leader.

With the demand for oil and gas steadily increasing, there is ever more pressure of the production levels of offshore platforms. Despite this constant demand, Parker is committed to making oil and gas exploration more energy efficient and more environmentally-friendly.

Fine Tubes was approached by Parker with a requirement for tubes that could not only withstand harsh environments with high corrosion-resistance, but also offer an excellent operational life, decreasing downtime and maintenance costs. The tubes were bound for the BP Schiehallion field, considered to be one of the largest and deepest developments in the North Sea.

Fine Tubes was chosen as a supplier for this project due to its reputation for quality and service, and worked with quality managers to meet new industry standards for specialist materials. The company wanted to ensure that its products offer the highest levels of safety and efficiency, reducing the need for testing and lengthening operational life.

With these standards in consideration, Fine Tubes supplied 6Mo super austenitic stainless steel alloy. The material can withstand the hostile environment of the North Sea, with increased resistance to crevice corrosion, stress corrosion cracking and chloride-induced pitting compared to 300 series and duplex stainless steel. The company makes the 6Mo tubes in sizes from 6mm to 25.4mm OD and 1 mm to 2.77 mm wall thickness, as well as tubes in alloy 625.

Tubing supplied to Parker for two-ferrule compression fittings – a popular product – must be of an exact hardness; too hard and the ferrules cannot grip the metal. To this end, Fine Tubes has taken special steps to ensure all its materials are compliant with the Parker Hannifin’s exacting requirements so that every product is compatible with all the fittings available. 6Mo A-LOK two-ferrule compression fittings are also compatible with most topside applications involving pressures up to 413 bar / 6000 PSI.

Paul Shaddick, Product Manager for Parker's Instrumentation Products Division, said: "Extending the reach of our quality control standards to encompass the manufacturing processes used by our supplier of 6Mo alloy tubing is a major step forward in our product development strategy.”

All the small bore instrumentation valves, manifolds, tubes and fittings that Parker supplies are now approved by the NORSOK M-650 standard, making the company the only instrument fittings company to have achieved this level of recognition for its conformity. Fine Tubes has contributed to this success by fully meeting Parker’s new specifications for compliance in the manufacturing and supply of its products.

Decades of traditional methods are having to be rethought, and Fine Tubes is at the forefront of the innovation that is improving reliability and performance for oil and gas production platforms.