The United States and Japan first began to study the applicability of titanium alloy materials in the field of oil and gas development in the mid-1980s.
The RMI Titanium Company of the United States has systematically studied the types and properties of titanium alloys that can be used in the field of oil and gas development since the 1990s, and verified the feasibility and use of different titanium alloy materials in high temperature, high pressure, and high corrosion environments through experimental methods. Limited performance, hydrogen embrittlement prevention methods and the addition of precious metal platinum group elements have improved the corrosion resistance of titanium alloys, and successfully developed a hot rotation-pressure perforation pipe rolling process. Development of a titanium alloy oil sleeve with a steel grade of more than 1000 MPa Products such as pipes, coiled pipes, offshore drilling risers and catenary risers.
Assessment by the American Society of Corrosion Engineers NACE: The product can completely resist H2S, CO2 and Cl- corrosion when the ambient temperature is below 330 ℃. The product has been used in oil and gas wells in multiple blocks in the United States, the Oryx Neptune drilling project in the Gulf of Mexico and Mobile Bay Field (Mobile Bay Oilfield) successfully applied in thermal sour oil and gas wells.
Weatherford’s subsidiary Grant Prideco and RTI Energy Systems have developed titanium alloy drill pipes using hot rolling technology. It not only has the strength of steel drill pipes, but also has the flexibility of synthetic materials, lighter weight, corrosion resistance and durability. The product was used in short-radius horizontal well drilling applications in Kansas, USA in 1999.
Unocal Petroleum Company uses titanium pipes for the development of hot brine geothermal wells in the Salton Sea area of the United States. They work in a corrosive environment with ultra-high concentration of salt water at 290 ℃. The life of carbon steel pipes is generally shorter than one year, while titanium alloy pipes The design life expectancy is longer than 15 years.
The Ti-6Al-2Sn-4Zr-6Mo, Ti-6Al-4V, Ti-6Al-4V-Ru and Ti3Al-8V-6Cr-4Zr-4Mo and other titanium alloy tubing and casing materials developed by Chevron have been used in the Gulf of Mexico. High-pressure, high-temperature, ultra-high-pressure and high-temperature wells have been applied.
In the Hiedrun TLP project, Continental Petroleum used titanium drilling risers with a diameter of about 508 mm. Cooper-Cameron Petroleum Tools Co., Ltd. used Ti-6Al-4V ELI alloy to produce risers with diameters of 295 mm and 346 mm. And put them into the Green-Canyon project, the whole set of equipment has been in operation since May 1995.
New Zealand Quest Integrity NZL Ltd has studied the corrosion of titanium alloys in the development of geothermal resources, and the results show that titanium alloys have good performance in geothermal fluids at high temperatures of 25 to 165 ℃.
Japan's Sumitomo Metals and other companies have studied the corrosion behavior of titanium alloy pipes under simulated production conditions, and all have proved that titanium alloy materials have great advantages in the field of oil and gas development.