Invista moves into oilfield services with industry-first nylon line pipe

Invista, a subsidiary of Koch Industries, has introduced a new nylon polymer pipe designed to withstand harsh oilfield conditions.

Raptor nylon pipe, the industry's first nylon 6-6 homogenous single wall line pipe that withstands temperatures up to 93.3⁰C and pressures up to 500 PSI. During the development of the new line pipe, the company's technical team kept corrosive liquids, impacts, abrasions, high temperatures, and daily wear and tear from the oil patch in its list of priorities.

The pipe comes coiled in up to 2,000ft sections that are ready for the ditch and suitable for applications ranging from multiphase flow lines to low pressure natural gas gathering and water transportation. Its product portfolio includes 2", 3", 4" and 6" IPS and SDRs 7, 9 and 11. Six-inch pipe is expected to be available in fourth quarter 2014.

Other key features of Raptor nylon pipe include:
• Fast installation with coils;
• Requires no de-rating for liquid hydrocarbons;
• Has better abrasion resistance compared with steel and high-density polyethylene*; and
• Has better impact resistance than fibreglass, HDPE and their composite pipes.

Typical installation of Raptor nylon pipe requires less time than needed to install other line pipe such as steel. Ease of installation is enhanced by connections with standard butt-fusion technology and a range of available transition fittings.

The pipe has been installed, tested and subjected to accelerated wear in varied environments to confirm its strength and durability. It performs two to five times better than steel* in abrasion resistance. It offers better resistance to static build-up and more than 25 times more abrasion resistance than HDPE* pipe. Additionally, it resists impacts where fibreglass, HDPE and their composites options falter.

*Tested against 3" .188 ERW A53/x42 steel and 4710 HDPE