Experience with Titanium Alloys for Oil and Gas Service

There is currently significant interest in titanium alloys for downhole tubulars and components for corrosive oil and gas wells due to their combination of strength, density and corrosion resistance. These alloys may be able to augment the current list of commonly used materials available to resist corrosion and stress corrosion cracking in hostile service environments, especially for high pressure high temperature (HPHT) well applications. However, there has been only limited service experience with titanium alloys under harsh conditions of H₂S, CO₂, brine and elemental sulfur. Moreover, little data exists for non-production environments such as those used in concentrated brine workover/completion fluids and strong acids used in well stimulation. This paper will provide a review the results of published studies developed over the past 25 years for titanium alloys and will focus on their composition, metallurgical processing, corrosion and performance.