What is sour service?
What is sour service?
Sour service is referred to exploration and production environments in oil and gas that have enough H2S that could cause cracking of metallic materials.
H2S (hydrogen sulphide) H2S is a highly flammable, explosive gas, and can cause possible life-threatening situations if not properly handled. H2S is deadly even at very low concentrations. Government regulators, health and safety bodies and industry associations across the world stressed this out. Short time exposures to concentrations as low as 100ppm (parts per million) of H2S can have deadly consequences Immediately Dangerous to Life and Health. In the UK H2S has a 10 ppm per 15-minute time weight averaged
The oil and gas industry recognise sour service as one of the toughest challenges in hydrocarbon production. H2Scracking is a risk to the integrity of assets and operations,
Industry bodies including API and IOGP as well as national and international codes likes ANSI, EN and ISO recognise NACE MR0175 as a standard to prevent H2S cracking in metallic materials. The Code of Federal Regulations as well as UK Health and Safety Executive refer to NACE MR0175 as a method to prevent cracking of metallic materials exposed to H2S.
NACE MR0175 is an international standard that provides the requirements for metallic materials exposed to H2S in oil and gas production environments. NACE MR0175 is identical to ISO 15156. ANSI / NACE MR0175 / ISO 15156 lists the requirements for carbon steels, low alloys and corrosion resistant alloys.
NACE MR0175 defines sour service as “Exposure to oilfield environments that contain sufficientH2S to cause cracking of materials by the mechanisms addressed by NACE MR0175/ISO 15156.”