FINE Tubes attendance at the recently held 15th Adipec 2012 in Abu Dhabi generated high interest in the company’s product range of high quality corrosion resistant tubes for the oil and gas industry.

The participation in the region’s most important oil and gas related conference and exhibition was part of the UK tube manufacturer’s plan in developing the Middle East region for exotic alloy tubing after recently establishing a network of partnering agents in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the Sultanate of Oman in addition to their long-term partner Petro Middle East in the UAE.

With over 1,500 exhibitors and 45,000 visitors, the Adipec exhibition provided unexpected high number of visitors to the Fine Tubes booth who were represented on the stand of Petro Middle East, an Adnoc approved company and agent for Fine Tubes for over 10 years in the UAE.

Nick Head, business development executive at Fine Tubes gives some insight: “The meetings at the show indicated strong interest in stainless steel 904L, 6Moly and Nickel alloy tubing matching our expertise is in manufacturing these specialist corrosion resistant products.” He further adds: “Particularly noticeable is the trend in moving from away from standard 316L type grades towards better performing alloys. Our discussions showed that 316L is still widely specified but the number of projects and applications where other grades are being used are clearly increasing. The industry seems to come to terms with the fact that costs for re-fitting corroded instrumentation systems when combined with loss due to production down times now make ‘fit and forget’ tube systems in higher corrosion-resistant alloys a much more cost-effective solution in the longer term. The investment in higher performance alloys will certainly pay off.”

Fine Tubes, tubing supplier to the world’s leading oil and gas and petrochemical companies for over 60 years manufactures high specification tubes in stainless steel, super-austenitic, duplex, nickel and titanium alloys for various mission critical applications in the most hostile sour well, subsea or downhole marine environments. The tube mill regularly supplies precision tubing in stainless steels 904L (UNS N08904) and 6Moly (UNS S31254), as well as nickel alloy 625 (UNS N06625) and alloy 825 (UNS N08825) for global offshore and onshore projects ranging from BP Quad 204, Jasmin Conoco Philips and Golden Eagle in the North Sea, Goliat in Norway to Pre-Salt Lula Oilfield in Brazil, Busan in Nigeria and Ichthys in Australia.

“Despite that the majority of drilling projects being onshore in the Middle East, the number of offshore developments are increasing,” comments Ryan Dover responsible for oil and gas upstream projects at Fine Tubes. “This means deeper, more hostile and corrosive environments which again drives the demand for higher corrosion-resistant tubing because stainless steels just would not last in these hostile corrosive conditions. This is where our strength lies with our extensive range of super austenitic and nickel alloy grade tubes that can offer longer term solutions over stainless steels in those harsher environments. This was underlined by significant interest in alloy 825 and alloy 400 tubes, which are widely used for instrumentation purposes carrying fluids in critical applications,” Ryan explains. “In the Middle East we are involved in oil and gas extraction projects such as Umm Lulu Field Development, Zakum Oil Filed Development, Buhasa Plant Modification and Shell Majnoon, to name a few.”

“As a leading manufacturer for exotic alloy tubes we really hold a unique market position in being able to manufacture high grade alloys in both straight pieces and coils in welded or seamless form. This means we can offer a full range of engineering solutions for many applications and environments”, explains Nick, who has been with the company for over 27 years.

“In the oil and gas industry our straight length tubing are used for hydraulic control and instrumentation lines, smooth bore tubing, high strength pressure housings and chemical injection lines, whereas coiled tubing are primarily used for steel tube umbilicals, downhole control lines, chemical injection lines, flow line bundle, control line tubing, downhole gauge cables. Our expertise in special grade stainless steels such as 904L, 6Moly and Nickel alloys also makes us an ideal partner for the supply of instrumentation packages used in the construction of offshore FPSO, FPSS’s, Spars and TLP’s,” he adds.

Fine Tubes in Plymouth, UK have a fully integrated facility for the manufacture and the research and development of high quality precision tubes in seamless, welded, welded and drawn forms. The company is a leading manufacturer of high precision tubes in stainless steel, nickel, titanium and zirconium alloys and the standards and specifications for these tubes and coils are extremely high, aimed at applications in the most hostile operating environments.

Extensive raw material stocks are maintained at their production site in Plymouth, UK, to ensure production and delivery profiles are in accordance with their global customers’ demands. All tubing products are manufactured on a ‘make-to-order’ basis in order to accommodate customer specific requirements.

Fine Tubes products serve a global customer-base in a wide range of markets such as the aerospace, medical, oil and gas, petrochemical, nuclear and power industry. The company has sales offices in France, Germany and India and currently exports to over 35 counties worldwide.