Despite efforts to promote renewable resources, oil and gas will continue to be the backbone of energy supply for the next decades to come. As conventional available reserves have largely been exhausted, more difficult fields have to be explored and enhanced oil recovery methods have to be utilized in existing fields in order to keep up with the accelerating demand for oil and gas. The era of easy accessible oil and gas has ended!

The share of total oil and gas production from offshore areas has increased significantly during the past decades, and the rapid growth of ultra-deepwater production is expected to continue well into the future. Oil and gas production is more challenging today as service conditions have become increasingly severe, e.g.: higher temperatures, higher pressures, sour fields (high H2S content) with high CO2 levels. All these challenges require advanced technologies, improved equipment and high performance materials in order to ensure the smooth and especially safe production of oil and gas.

This is where Corrosion Resistant Alloys (CRAs) are coming into play, as they are better suited to meet increasingly demanding requirements in exploration and production. Thus, the demand for special alloy steels, stainless steels and nickel alloys for upstream oil and gas applications has grown substantially and this trend is expected to continue.

This report describes the main applications for CRAs (Alloy Steels, Stainless Steels, Nickel Alloys) in the oil and gas industry and analyzes steel grades, product forms, dimensions and material trends. The consumption of CRAs is shown on a global and regional basis and the main suppliers are introduced as well as the major consumers in the oil and gas industry (OEMs and component fabricators).

The report highlights relevant future trends and developments and their consequences on the steel and nickel alloy supply chain. The main sources for this analysis are on site discussions with leading members of the entire oil and gas supply chain – from CRA producers to specialist distributors to equipment manufacturers and even oil majors.

This market report is a unique combination of Quest Offshore’s detailed oil and gas project database and SMIs in-depth knowledge about the stainless and specialty steel industry!