Industry Involvement

As part of Sumitomo Metals continuous improvement philosophy, Nippon Steel puts great efforts in being at the forefront of industry needs and challenges.

In this sense, Nippon Steel  participates in the following industry forums:

• ISO (International Organization for Standardization) :
  • Chairman of TC67/SC5 since 1991
• API (American Petroleum Institute)      
  • Committee Member since 1963
• NACE International (National Association of Corrosion Engineers) :
  • One of 15 members of Maintenance Panel for ISO15156
  • One of 30 members of Oversight committee 
• EFC (European Federation of Corrosion) :
  • Member of WP13 - Corrosion in Oil and Gas Production

In addition to the above, as an industry leading company, Nippon Steel has been deeply involved in several fit for purpose R&D programs with Oil & Gas companies and Service Suppliers meant to answer specific industry needs.

These type of investigations, meant to either  investigate/explore the suitability of existing products in specific conditions/applications or develop new ones, are key for Nippon Steel leading position in the Steel Pipe industry.

As an example of these R&D programs, Nippon Steel jointly with two major E&P companies has recently successfully pioneered the development of High Strength mild Sour Service materials.  The result of this investigation has been the development of SM125S material, a 125 ksi grade high strength low alloy steel OCTG meant for mildly sour environments.

SM125S material has been used as a "Fit For Purpose" production casing application in high pressure / high temperature wells leading to major improvement in well design, and with 10 years further research, its application range has been expanded as SM125ES.