Corrosion problems in the oil country tubular goods and their mitigation – a review

Important reserves of oil and gas, which are left to be discovered and produced, are mainly concentrated in challenging locations and under severe conditions such as high pressure (HP)/high temperature (HT). The presence of aggressive environments including H₂S, CO₂ and chlorides plus HP/HT causes a series of corrosion problems, which cost the oil industry billions of dollars a year. Thus, there is an increasing challenge for tubes (i.e. oil country tubular goods, for short, OCTG) used in producing oil and gas. The purpose of this study is to summarize different kinds of corrosion problems and their mitigation, to more efficiently protect OCTG from corrosion.

To effectively select proper mitigation methods, the mechanism of corrosion must be understood, which can be classified into four categories: sweet corrosion, sour corrosion, galvanic corrosion and microbiologically induced corrosion. Also, the effects of environmental and material factors on the corrosion rate are presented. Subsequently, current technology of mitigating these corrosion problems has been discussed, including the development of materials, application of chemical inhibitors and application of protective layers.

It is stressed that limits exist for each individual mitigation method; therefore, a careful balance between economic life of OCTG and safety in operation is required.

The main purpose of this essay is to give a brief review and detailed introduction and analysis about those technologies.