The world demand for natural gas is increasing due to the rise in energy consumption along with the growth of the world's population and industry. Another cause is the change from oil to natural gas as clean energy that emits less carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas and NOx or SOx as air pollution. However, the areas of the development of natural gas have been shifting from near the market to more remote areas including the polar region. Thus it is necessary for natural gas development companies to decrease the construction costs of the pipelines to maintain safety during operation and to improve transport efficiency with high-pressure operation. Nippon Steel Corporation has endeavored to improve the properties of linepipe quality and the optimization of manufacturing processes/conditions to satisfy the needs for higher strength and toughness of linepipes for many years. Through the development, issues to be solved have been found in the mechanical properties of plates and pipes, geometry of pipes and the quality in welds. We addressed these issues and invested in new processes from steel making to UOE Mill. As a result, we have established steady commercial production for high-strength UOE linepipes up to X120. To date, we have already produced X80, X100 and X120 grade linepipes. The production amount is 70,000 tons and the quality requirements have been greatly satisfied.
Due to steady growth of the world's population, world energy demand will generally increase despite significant fluctuations in industry consumption, depending on the economic situation. Against the background of such energy demand, world demand for natural gas will increase due to the fact that it is a clean form of energy that provides an alternative to oil. It also emits low CO2, which is a well-known greenhouse gas, and emits low SOX and NOX, which are common air pollutants.
