Thirtieth Anniversary of Technical Exchange with ExxonMobil

Sumitomo Metal Industries, Ltd. (Sumitomo Meals) has celebrated its thirtieth anniversary of technical exchanges with ExxonMobil, the world's largest publicly traded international oil and gas company. To celebrate this occasion, eleven engineers from ExxonMobil recently visited Sumitomo Metals'Corporate Research & Development Laboratories for discussion with their counterparts.

The engineering materials that have been developed with the benefit of the exchange of technology have been used for many of our products including oil country tubular goods (OCTG) and line pipe, with formidable results.

1.Overview of the Exchange
During the latter half of the 1970s, at the request of ExxonMobil (the two companies merged in 1999), we developed high-strength material for sour environments (*1) to be used for OCTG. This excellent achievement led to the first engineering exchange meeting of employees of the two companies, in 1979. Subsequent meetings of similar nature have been of critical importance in joint development of cutting-edge steel materials including commercial application of high-alloy OCTG (*2) and development of X120, a high-strength UO line pipe (*3).

Two meetings are held a year. Typically, about five engineers from both sides participate.

The exchange arrangement at the present time is proving invaluable in the development of ultra-high strength oil pipe for sour environments and high-strength UO line pipe.

The capability and competitiveness that Sumitomo Metals has demonstrated through its exchanges has resulted in the Company receiving contracts for supply of OCTG to ExxonMobil for more than 20 years.

2.Technical Exchange Meetings of This Time

3. Future Development
Encouraged by the visit of 11 engineers from ExxonMobil on this occasion, we expect that our work at developing cutting-edge technology for steel materials will be further advanced.

Glossary
*1 High-strength anti-sour materials: materials used for OCTG having both high strength and high resistance to the very corrosive nature of sour environments that contain highly-corrosive hydrogen sulfide in oil wells in the course of developing oilfields.

*2 High-alloy OCTG: Oil pipe for use in sour environments that contain hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide gas among others. The oil pipe is made of materials containing high-alloy components such as chromium, nickel, and molybdenum. Since conventional steel materials had caused problems with corrosion and embrittlement, the new material has been developed for commercial use since 1980's. Recently the material is used in developing gas fields in the Middle East. Sumitomo Metals has a 90% share for the products in the world.

*3 X120: A type of steel pipe that does not deform at interior pressures of up to 84 kg per square millimeter. X symbolizes the strength of line pipe, set by the American Petroleum Institute standards. The figure of 120 means that the pipe has strength for deformity of over 120 kilo pound per square inch [ksi].

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Technical Exchange Meeting