OREANDA-NEWS. September 29, 2011. JFE Steel Corporation announced today that together with Marubeni-Itochu Steel Inc. it has received an order for 3,500 metric tons of MightySeam® electric-resistance-welded (ERW) steel pipe from Statoil, the international energy company. The pipes, measuring 10.75 inches in their outside diameter, have been produced at the Keihin District facility of JFE Steel's East Japan Works and shipped to Statoil's Hyme and Stjerne projects in the North Sea and the Norwegian Sea this August.

Both projects will use the reel-based method to lay linepipes, which will make this the world's first such application of non-heat-treatment ERW pipe. The reel method, a procedure suitable for medium-scale pipeline, requires strict manufacturing specifications, so mainly seamless pipes or heat-treatment ERW pipes have been used until now.

Compared to conventional products, JFE Steel's proprietary MightySeam boasts dramatically improved weld toughness, even at temperatures below -50°C. Advanced processes developed by JFE Steel control the morphology and distribution of oxides emitted during welding, and check for flaws along a weld's entire length on a real-time basis. MightySeam also offer excellent strength and dimensional accuracy.

MightySeam already has been shipped to customers in North America and Southeast Asia, but not for applications involving the highly demanding reel method. JFE Steel now expects to develop additional business involving MightySeam's use in frigid environments as a substitute for seamless pipe.

Going forward, JFE Steel will continue to develop high-performance, high-quality steel pipes and other steel products to support global resource and energy development.