TPi May 2015

business & market news

Castle Metals in ten-year extension agreement with Stelia Aerospace

new standards of excellence in the aerospace industry.”

collaborative planning of mill inbound and customer on-hand inventory, JIT delivery (multiple deliveries per day direct to production lines as Castle has quality delegation), and AOG (aircraft on ground) support. The contract extension is estimated to exceed $300mn over the ten-year term. Castle Metals will service the contract from its service centre in Nantes, France. Castle’s regional commercial manager for the European region, Asier Gonzalez, commented, “This long-term agreement reinforces the strong partnership between both of our companies and our commitment to support each other en route to

Castle Metals France, a global distributor of metal and plastic products, processing services and supply chain solutions, has announced that it has signed a ten-year agreement with Stelia Aerospace. The current contract dates back to 1998 with Airbus, and was subsequently renegotiated when Aerolia was created in 2009, before coming into force in 2011. The programme covers Stelia’s aerospace tubing products in a wide range of alloys including nickel, titanium, aluminium and stainless steel.

A spokesperson from Stelia said, “Since the implementation of the contract in 2011, Castle has always been a reliable and flexible partner, successfully accompanying Aerolia and today Stelia in its growth. We wanted this ten-year contract extension to provide visibility and to reinforce our strong partnership, which is particularly important considering the challenging context of our company’s growth and ambitions.”

castle Metals ltd – UK enquiries@amcastle.com www.castlemetalseurope.com

In addition to value-added processing, the Castle contract also includes

Performance of polymer lined pipes in sour hydrocarbon service

tests under strenuous conditions. As the offshore oil and gas industry continues to move into more hazardous and extreme environments, it is critical that we demonstrate how polymer lining systems can continue to be used.” Paul Woollin, director of research at TWI, said, “There is appreciable interest in the use of polymer-lined pipe for affordable corrosion-resistant hydrocarbon production. Currently, there is a lack of supporting integrity data, in particular for sour fluids, to provide sufficient confidence for widespread use. TWI’s JIP specifically aims to address the primary issues from an industry perspective, namely the enduring concern of ‘liner collapse’ and risk of corrosion of the carbon steel pipe. Supporting work in the TWI Core Research Programme aims to underpin the JIP by providing a fundamental understanding of both the time-dependent alteration in the polymer layer and processes occurring at the polymer-carbon steel interface.”

The project is divided into two parts. Part A, sponsored by Swagelining and Saudi Aramco, will use applied testing on lined pipe sections to determine the corrosion rate during simulated service conditions for 180 days. This section of the JIP will also look at the occurrence of liner collapse during multiple pressure cycles, and how this can be prevented by implementing an internally vented system, which will be represented by Swagelining’s LinerVent™. Part B is funded by TWI and will look to gain an understanding of the transport processes through the partially confined polymeric layer. TWI’s diverse expertise means that it is able to deal with all of the material components of the project. The JIP has plans for further growth, achieved through sponsorship and involvement from other organisations, which will allow additional, more extensive testing of higher temperature polymeric and composite liners. Dr Brogden added, “We hope to attract input from further parties which can add value to this JIP, particularly in the latter stages as we look to perform

A joint industry project (JIP) has been launched between Swagelining Ltd, Saudi Aramco and The Welding Institute (TWI) to conduct investigations into the use of polymer lining in carbon steel pipelines. The project will examine the extent of corrosion incurred in a polymer-lined pipeline when subjected to a sour hydrocarbon fluid environment. Between the three parties, a total of £330,000 has been invested into the project, which commenced in October 2014 and is expected to last 30 months. Dr Steve Brogden, technical engineering manager at Swagelining Ltd, said, “We are delighted to be working closely with Saudi Aramco and TWI on this JIP. When compared with corrosion resistant alloys, polymer lining systems are attracting growing interest within the pipeline industry. This comes as a result of significant cost advantages, increased corrosion prevention and reduced fabrication and installation time. All three parties felt that it was time to build upon this interest and demonstrate concrete evidence of how polymer lining can perform under a range of conditions.”

swagelining ltd – UK enquiries@swagelining.com www.swagelining.com

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