China National Petroleum Corp. has awarded Friedrich Kocks GmbH & Co KG, Germany, an order to supply a stretch reducing block [SRB] and a rotating hot saw [RHS] within the frame of the new welding tube plant being constructed at its subsidiary Baoji Petroleum Steel Pipe Co., Ltd. [BSG] in Baoji, China.
With its new welding tube plant, Baoji Petroleum Steel Pipe will be the first manufacturer in the Middle Kingdom of welded and stretch-reduced tubes using the so-called ERW-HSR procedure. The new plant’s layout allows the steel to be continuously welded and stretch reduced in one continuous process, significantly improving the yield of the production plant.
Once it is completed, the new plant will produce up to 300,000 tonnes/year high-quality welded tubes with superior tolerances and material properties. The range of products includes tubes ranging from 60.3 to 177.8 mm in diameter with wall thicknesses of 4.83 to 13.72 mm according to international standards for applications in the oil and gas industry.
The 3-roll Stretch Reducing Block features a "Star Drive" design that is being used for the first time in a tube welding plant. Designed for the use of up to 24 non-adjustable and adjustable stands with a nominal roll diameter of 360 mm, the stretch reducing block will roll all finished sizes out of only one mother size of 193.7 mm diameter.
The stretch reducing block’s stands are non-adjustable reducing stands, except for the last three, which are adjustable finishing stands, and the other stands are. The line also features a quick changing system for the stands and quick roll changing for the roll shop, which will help to considerably reduce the required number of changing stands for an optimum production.
The rotating hot saw, an RHS 1000, will be installed between the stretch reducing block and the cooling bed to allow the production of different tube lengths with tightest length tolerances, thus eliminating the need for complicated batch conveyors and saws behind the cooling bed.
Kocks scope of supply also includes roll shop equipment, electrical equipment, and automation systems as well as Basic Engineering for local production which is obligatory in China, as, for example, gratings, roller conveyors, ejector and cooling bed. Kocks will also be responsible for supervision of assembly and commissioning, training of operators, and transmission of process know-how.
Commissioning of the new tube mill is planned for the second half of 2011.
China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) is an internationally operating energy company with works in 29 countries of the world and China's largest oil and gas producer.
Originally founded in 1958, Baoji Petroleum Steel Pipe (BSG) is today one of CNPC’s most important companies. BSG was the first in China to manufacture tubes using the submerged arc welding method and nowadays produces 1.25 million tonnes of steel tubes per year in several works.