Additive Manufacturing In The Oil & Gas Industry And Status Update On The New API 20S Standard "Qualification Of Additively Manufactured Metallic Materials For Use In The Petroleum And Natural Gas Industries"

Abstract

The API 20S Standard is designed to play a crucial role in leveraging Additive Manufacturing (AM) to foster innovation in the oil and gas industry. The paper, in association with the standard, will facilitate the understanding of how AM will enable equipment design improvements, faster prototyping, and better inventory management. By way of discussing the progress, challenges, and lessons learned from the standardization process, the paper aims to encourage a safer, broader, and faster adoption of AM technologies in the mainstream oil and gas applications. The paper will summarize the streamlining process, feedback from the API 20S task group, and current status of the standardization efforts. Additionally, upcoming challenges and the potential for the oil and gas industry industries to contribute to the standard will be summarized. The paper will also showcase a novel tiered approach (Additive Manufacturing Specification Levels) to allow the users of the document to match different levels of criticality.