stories on hard material matters - Ceratizit S.A.

32
HUNTING OILFIELD SERVICES, NETHERLANDS
A small device with a big effect
CERATIZIT customer story: improved security in threading
operations for the oil industry
The CERATIZIT customer Hunting Oilfield Services
BV (Netherlands) provides high-quality tubes and
couplings with threads. The tubes are applied worldwide
for the production of oil and natural gas. Until a short time
ago the swarf resulting from the production of couplings
stayed in the work piece and was removed manually.
Dangerous work, as hot and sharp chips were thrown
around and could injure the workers. CERATIZIT found a
quick solution.
A show of strength: the exacting process of winning oil
Tubes and couplings are exposed to enormous stress
during oil extraction as most oil deposits are four 3 miles
beneath the surface of the earth. A boring head or trepan
has the difficult task to ensure access to the oil.
The boring tool consists of steel tubes placed at its ends
which are connected by threaded joints to form the
pipe string and drill string. Shortly before the trepan
reaches the oil deposit the drill string has a length
of several miles and, weighs around 110 tons which
corresponds to the weight of a large diesel locomotive.
This enormous weight is suspended on the upper thread,
the quality of which therefore has to fulfill exacting
demands.
Precision and security: threading
Hunting Oilfield Services BV in Velsen-Noord, northwest
of Amsterdam, specializes in problem solutions for
oil and gas extraction. Some customers of the affiliate
The new solution from CERATIZIT: the swarf is drawn from inside to
outside and falls out of the work piece.
imp:act 01/08
Hunting PLC group are Gaz de France, Total Fina and
Exxon Mobil. Hunting Oilfield Services was founded in 1986
and today has around 60 employees who work seven
machines around the clock (shift work).
Hunting Oilfield Services produces the threads in
tubes and couplings which are applied for oil and gas
extraction. The tubes mainly come from Japan and
have a length between 32 and 42 feet. 75 % of the tubes
consist of high alloyed chromium steel, the remaining
25 % of low alloyed steel with medium strength (P110, C95
or L80). Threading both sides of the tube takes about 15
minutes. One cutting edge of an insert lasts for about 10
to 14 threads.
Risk of injury at the workplace
To avoid damage of the work piece and ensure longer
service life of the insert it is absolutely necessary to
evacuate the swarf as fast as possible. Until a year ago
at Hunting the swarf resulting from threading operations
remained in the coupling. From there the workers
extracted it by hand, the CNC machine remaining in operation
and the door open - a dangerous situation. When
turning, the spindle in the CNC machine rotates very quikkly,
hot sharp swarf is flung about and coolant sputters
around. The danger of injury is very high.
The Holland Institute for work security (ARBO) criticized
the machine and demanded that Hunting operate the
machines securely.
Quality control: the work piece is manually checked for ruptures.