Despite the use of complex machinery, the core of the oil and gas industry is the pipe that companies use to produce and transport oil and natural gas. The quality of that pipe is crucial to the safety and profitability of any company.
One damaged pipe or its threads can lead to unplanned downtime, even major oil leaks. Lost time incidents (LTI) not only stop production, but the subsequent investigations and safety audits become additional overhead costs.
With the steady rise in oil and gas production, companies need to continue to operate at the best possible efficiencies. That is why energy companies turn to API-standard and ISO-certified pipe protection.
API and ISO Certified Pipe Protection Provide Reliability
Optimal production is the primary business goal, and every component or support tool used requires a verifiable, quality-driven manufacturing process. Oil Country Tubular Goods (OCTG) uses protection products to provide additional efficiencies by ensuring producers’ mission-critical equipment, like casing and tubing, continues to function reliably.
There are additional benefits to using API standards and ISO certified pipe protection products. In this article, we will discuss the top five advantages.
API and ISO Certified Pipe Protection
The American Petroleum Institute (API) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) are both entities that drive standardization and quality among energy companies. While ISO rarely publishes industry-specific standards, API is dedicated to the petroleum and energy industries.
API necessitates companies to implement standards for licensing, while ISO remains a certification body where participation is predominantly voluntary. For leading manufacturers, implementing both sets of quality standards is part of the cost of doing business.
Global manufacturing and supply chains require a level of confidence when moving to new suppliers or forming fresh partnerships. ISO ensures that companies that receive certification uphold the best practices in both their industry and the global marketplace. Choosing a certified partner offers confidence in the products or services provided.
Learn more about how ISO certifications 9001 and 14001 play an important role in the manufacturing of pipe protection products.
Five Benefits of Pipe Protection Made to API Standards and with ISO Certification
While regulations control many processes in the oil and gas industry, there are no extensive regulations for protecting pipes, equipment, and other oilfield components; this tends to remain a producer’s own prerogative. However, various field producers and site operations still deem certified and compliant pipe and protective components important and necessary.
Every stage in the production, transport, and storage of pipe presents a risk. Using the correct equipment will ensure that critical areas of the operation do not result in downtime due to mishandling or preventable corrosion.
The benefits of using API standard and ISO certified pipe protection equipment are:
1. End-User Operational Safety
Whether the end-users are onshore or offshore, their efforts to protect pipe and threads during every step of the supply chain remain key. From the original manufacturing site to the rig floor, mishandled pipe creates safety risks for both production equipment and operators alike. Manufacturers ensure that the pipe’s integrity is sound before releasing the order for shipment, but after delivery, the risk of damage remains.
A damaged thread due to blunt impact will leave the pipe joint useless. Once installed, it can create a dangerous situation during normal production cycles if not detected early.
According to the International Association of Oil and Gas Producer’s (IOGP) 2021 safety report, fatalities and injuries were both up from 2020 levels. The overall recordable injury rate was 0.77, 10% higher than in 2020.
2. Protecting and Maintaining Well Integrity
As previously stated, if pipe joints are not properly protected, a wellbore’s integrity can be compromised; this is just as important during on-site handling and installation. If there is damage to any pipe threads, it creates expensive workovers for the well that affect production quantities.
Download the 2022 API Energy Report
Ensuring the right protective devices are available, like lifting bails or stabbing guides, minimizes the risk of damage to pipe threads during handling and make-up. Also, having the proper lifting tools and guidance available can improve production efficiency.
3. Environmental and Public Safety
While everyone knows the devastation a well leak can cause, the effects on a company’s reputation can also be drastic. An offshore blowout can create years of environmental damage, while onshore, the impact on the ecosystem is equally detrimental. Add to this the fines and liabilities, and it remains imperative to maintain well safety.
Learn more about the benefits and consequences of offshore drilling.
A major environmental and safety concern is ensuring that a faulty pipe does not enter the casing or tubing run. With potential damage to any ecosystem and possible safety hazards, protecting every pipe joint through installation is critical to the well’s success and the environment and public.
Download the 2022 API State of American Energy Report
4. Reduced Downtime and Quicker Time to Market
Losses in production result in less revenue overall, as well as additional expenses. Although there are instances where downtime is avoidable, reducing it is still possible. With proper pipe protection, most end-users can avoid or reduce losses in production time and get products to market on time. At MSI Pipe Protection Technologies, our goal is to help you deliver all day, every day. Our API standard and ISO certified pipe protection products, for instance, provide that added assurance for safer operations with little to no downtime.
5. Capital Investment Savings
An O&G well is only worth the money spent to establish and maintain if it continues to yield according to projections. Although the production potential may remain, defective pipe can diminish the expected returns. By ensuring proper pipe and pipe thread protection on every joint of pipe during storage, transportation, and installation, capital investment returns will improve.
6. A Better Reputation of Safety
For oil and gas companies, their reputations mean everything. Every company wants to be known as the one that delivers but has an exceptional safety record. A big part of that is using the resources that actually make operations safer, such as pipe protection tools.
If your company consistently uses the right high-grade pipe protection, then other companies in the industry will take notice. When there is ever a decision to be made about which company to work with, business partners always choose the one with the better safety record and reputation for taking the extra steps to be safe.
Using API and ISO Certified Pipe Protection Equipment Improves Production, Safety, and Revenue
MSI Pipe Protection Technologies is an ISO 9001 and 14001 certified supplier of pipe protection products that serve every part of the supply chain. By also aligning with API and its global initiatives, MSI delivers the supporting products needed to improve yields, reduce downtimes, and ensure safety. From tubular handling systems to pipe chocks and bumper rings, each joint of pipe will remain secured and protected.
Contact MSI Pipe Protection Technologies today for additional information, or call 877-276-9208.
