Experience With Qualification and Use of Stainless Steels in Subsea Pipelines

Use of stainless steels in subsea oil and gas production systems have been common through the development of remote controlled subsea oil and gas production systems. Stainless steels are mainly selected to minimize the corrosion due to unprocessed oil and gas and thereby simplifying the internal corrosion protection challenges. Different materials and principles have been implemented from cladding of Carbon Manganese steels to the use of solid stainless steels. For cladding Incoloy 825 or Inconel 625 is common, while the solid stainless steels have been duplex, superduplex or 13%Cr steels in pipes and pipe fittings. Experience from service has shown that these materials have limits in their use, and it is reported various cases where the stainless steels have failed. The present paper will deal with a few examples of failures and possible reasons for these failures.