Pipe problems: a quality control error means Norwegian operators will have to check fittings made by Italy's Tecninox
Pipe glitch hits Norway offshore sector
Norway's oil and gas industry has been hit by a worldwide pipeline quality scare after Italian company Tecninox said hundreds of thousands of duplex pipe fittings were heated at the wrong temperature during production.
A spokesman for the Norwegian oil industry association, the OLF, told Dow Jones Newswires that 20,000 of the affected fittings have been purchased by petroleum companies operating on the Norwegian continental shelf and that replacing them might require production shutdowns "for a short period of time".
It is not yet clear when remedial work will take place.
OLF spokesman Kjetil Hjertvik said Norwegian operators are currently looking into their offshore operations to find out how many of the fittings are faulty.
The Norwegian petroleum safety authority has given them until 17 April to carry out surveys.
Up to 10,000 of the imported fittings have been installed offshore, but it is not clear how many of those are faulty, Hjertvik said.
StatoilHydro said the current scope of the fittings issue "is limited".
Spokesman Geir Gjervan added: "As for now there are no production implications. All operators will give an update to the petroleum safety authority by 17 April."
The remaining 10,000 will be sent back to Tecninox for reheating to ensure their ductility and corrosiveness are up to scratch.
Tecninox is understood to produce 600,000 of the four inch-diameter pipes annually for oil and gas operators all over the world for a wide range of applications including hydrocarbon production pipes and water transportation pipes.
The production error is thought to have started around three years ago when the Tecninox changed some of its heating equipment.
Tecninox was unavailable to comment.
