China achieves ground-breaking robot welding for oil and gas pipelines

Long viewed as a pioneer in industrial automation, China has made yet another stride with the deployment of self-developed pipeline welding and inspection systems. After successful tests, it’s been confirmed that the new system will dramatically increase efficiency and set a new standard for infrastructure technology.

The system consists of four machines to create an entire robotic welding crew capable of operating in complicated environments. These machines are expected to be soon deployed into environments like deserts and mountainous regions, which would pose challenges for human welding and inspection teams.

Welding engineer Jin Hongxing, representing the China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering Co., explained that the new system includes four core capabilities that mark them out as a ground-breaking innovation. Firstly, they’re compatible with pipes ranging from 33 to 1,422 millimeters in diameter. They’re also capable of welding all types of joints, operating in complicated terrains, and offering fully automated ultrasonic inspection capabilities.

He said, “The robotic crew delivers three strategic advantages -- exponential welding efficiency, green and low-carbon operations, and intrinsic pipeline safety.”

Crucially, it’s an innovation that could change the face of the energy industry forever. Traditionally, pipeline welding has relied on manual and semi-automated tools for up to 80% of its operations, making it one of the most expensive and labor-intensive functions. Naturally, this comes with the problem of inconsistent quality and finish, which represents a serious compatibility problem with how contemporary and next-generation energy infrastructure works.

This versatile automated system overcomes these problems and gives the Chinese oil and gas industry a massive edge over its global competitors. In early tests on the East African Crude Oil Pipeline Project, the robotic welding teams achieved a 98% first-pass success rate.

Moreover, the system has proven itself to support China in its sustainability aims. These tests also illustrated that rather than spending 2.9 kg of welding material on a single joint, the automated robotic welding team reduced this to 1 kg per joint. Additionally, fuel consumption fell from 30 to 10 liters, and carbon emissions fell by 60%.

Other tests have also been successful, with the China-Russia East-Route pipeline witnessing a single weld taking just a single hour, compared to the seven hours required to conduct a single manual weld.

The technology has won plaudits across the world already, with certifications from TotalEnergies in France and Saudi Aramco in Saudi Arabia, making it ready for deployment across both Africa and the Middle East.