Study the Effect of Corrosion on the Pipes of Oil Well Production

Abstract

Corrosion costs of the oil industry are billions of dollars in a year. Corrosion affects every aspect of
exploration and production of oil, from offshore rigs to casing and transporting the crude oil to
refinery or exporting terminal. This study aims to investigate the effect of sulfur content on the
corrosion of carbon steel and composite material (polyester/fiberglass) pipes used in well
production. .
In the present work three specimens of pipes from (Al – Nasiriyah oil field, Al – Daura refinery, and
composite material) are prepared in the center of the training and workshop in university of
technology with (3, and 5 mm) thickness and (30 mm) diameter which immersed in different types
of Iraqi crude oil field (East – Baghdad, Al – Nasiriyah, and Al – Rumaila field) in different times (0,
14, 28, 42, and 56 day). Physical properties (viscosity, density, API grade, specific gravity (sp.gr),
sulfur %, sediment %, and water %) of three types of Iraqi crude oil are tested in lab of petroleum
technology department. Also study specimens of pipes by microscope to knowing the effect of
sulfur % on these specimens. .
The results showed that when increasing duration of immersed pipes and sulfur content in crude oil
increased the rate of corrosion, and the composite material pipe gives the best result compared with
the other two specimens pipes used because they didn’t influenced by corrosion when immersed in
Iraqi crude oil. Also, it was noted that the diffusion coefficient decreased in composite pipe
compared with the other pipes.