Test rig complete

(CNES) has manufactured a 3,000-tonne hydraulic test rig for Aberdeen-based

(UK).

The press is a complete tension compression test rig, which will be delivered to an Oil States customer in China, Tianjin Pipe Corporation (TPCO), which will use it to ensure its seamless steel pipe is fit for purpose.

Oil States Industries provides deepwater production products and subsea pipelines for the offshore and onshore oil and gas industries. The test laboratories at Aberdeen are accredited to UKAS ISO 17025 and have their own in-house designed 2,000-tonne hydraulic press, but in early 2007, the company designed a 3,000-tonne version for TPCO.

TPCO manufactures seamless steel pipe, used for applications including casing for oil-well drilling, transporting petroleum and natural gas, and for applications in the offshore, machinery, construction, electricity and aviation industries.

These pipes need to be tested to International Standards (ISO 13679) to ensure that they are fit for purpose and can withstand the very high tension and compression forces acting on them when in use. The new test rig replicates these forces.