OTC – Offshore Technology Conference in Houston

It is a key annual meeting place for all the main players in the oil and gas industry, which is a challenging sector, but one with much potential. Given the extreme conditions that the components concerned are exposed to, this sector works mainly with high-alloy materials like 22-25% duplex or nickel-based alloys (e.g. Inconel 625). The processing of such materials is precisely one of the major strengths of Kuhn Special Steel, which makes OTC – with its more than 2,300 exhibitors from over 100 countries – one of the most important trade fairs for us in the course of the year. 2017 is already the second year in which Kuhn Special Steel has been represented as an exhibitor at the OTC event. This year also sees us exhibit jointly with our sister company M. Jürgensen, a world-leading supplier of cylinder bushes made of grey cast iron, as well as advances in the Ni-Resist sector (www.m-juergensen.com).

Kuhn Special Steel is able, in addition to its advanced expertise with the materials concerned, to use a production method – centrifugal casting – to cover a further important aspect of the matter: it is possible, with a given forged quality, to use contour-matched casting to achieve comparatively cost-effective production. This is particularly important with respect to the current crisis, when seen against the background of the extreme boom of previous years. Sets of certification conforming to NORSOK, Achilles, Bureau Veritas, DNV, GL, ISO 9001:2008, Lloyd’s Register and RINA, held in conjunction with our fully automatic system of heat treatment, ensure the optimum fulfilment of all the requirements of this most-demanding of industrial sectors.

The fields of application that Kuhn Special Steel is able to cover within the oil and gas sector are very wide-ranging in this respect. Examples include tubes and sleeves for downhole carriers, hydraulic cylinders and piston accumulators for blowout preventers, along with flow-metering devices. The list of possible components likewise includes cylinders and drum casings for decanters, sealing rings for fire-extinguisher and cargo pumps and connection elements/outlet nozzles for so-called “christmas trees”. Those attending the event have been able to discuss these and other fields of application with the experts present, and talk about plans for exciting future projects.

Even though the market is not yet fully recovered, we have spotted many opportunities for joint development, along with hoped-for stabilisation and a revival of this highly interesting sector.

Photo: EMPPhotography/Getty Images