Used tubing testing for H2S service

[dhayes]

Is there a way to test used tubulars to verify the grade of the pipe, relative to NACE MR-0175 requirements for application in H2S environments? How do you verify that a used string of L-80 pipe is L-80 and not some other grade? I have not found a non-destructive way to verify that a used string is as advertised. Hardness testing could be done on each joint to verify a HRC of less than 22, but is this enough? When the cost of failure due to HSC is high, it appears to me that the only answer is to buy new pipe with mill certification of grade?

 

[DrillerNic]

In my experience working over old wells, it's not uncommon to find a P110 pup joint or something, if there was no L80 in stock, with no mention of it in the completion tally. Unless you can get hold of the original certificates I'd go with new tubing, which will be expensive right now, I'm afraid.

I'd be wary of trusting the completion schematic or tally on very old wells - I've pulled tubing that was a different size to the completion schematic out of a well in the past (trying to get the correct well control crossovers late on a Sunday eveninng was fun on that well!)