The natural gas industry: equipment, materials, and corrosion

Corrosion is a crucial worldwide problem that strongly affects the oil and gas industry. Natural gas (NG) is a source of energy used in industrial, residential, commercial, and electric applications. The abundance of NG in many countries augurs a profitable situation for the vast energy industry. NG is considered friendlier to the environment and has lesser greenhouse gas emissions compared with other fossil fuels. In the last years, shale gas is increasingly exploited in the USA and in Europe, using a hydraulic fracturing (fracking) technique for releasing gas from the bedrock by injection of saline water, acidic chemicals, and sand to the wells. Various critical sectors of the NG industry infrastructure suffer from several types of corrosion: steel casings of production wells and their drilling equipment, gas-conveying pipelines including pumps and valves, plants for regasification of liquefied NG, and municipal networks of NG distribution to the consumers. Practical technologies that minimize or prevent corrosion include selection of corrosion-resistant engineering materials, cathodic protection, use of corrosion inhibitors, and application of external and internal paints, coatings, and linings. Typical cases of corrosion management in the NG industry are presented based on the authors' experience and knowledge.