Product Upgrade Directions of China’s Seamless Steel Pipe Industry During the 13th Five-Year Plan Period

The 12th Five-Year Plan period witnessed five years of achievements for China’s seamless steel pipe industry in product structure adjustment, process and equipment upgrading, energy conservation, emission reduction and environmental protection.Nevertheless, the industry also faced relatively overcapacity, sliding corporate economic benefits, rising cost pressure, difficulties and high costs in enterprise financing, growing capital risks, and mounting environmental constraints.Phased and structural contradictions became prominent.

Therefore, the 13th Five-Year Plan period was a crucial stage for the seamless steel pipe industry to further pursue innovative development and accelerate transformation and upgrading.Seamless steel pipe manufacturers must pursue innovation in development philosophy, business models, process technology and enterprise management.Sound top-level design and clear development ideas are essential for surviving and achieving better growth amid the severe industrial reshuffle.

Product Upgrade Directions for Oil Well Pipes

Iron-nickel alloy and duplex steel oil casing & tubingTo meet service requirements of oil casing and tubing under high CO₂/H₂S or H₂S corrosive environments, domestic enterprises have developed iron-nickel alloy oil casing grades including G3, 2535, 028, 2250, 2242 and 2332 for oilfields and achieved mass supply.In the past two years, duplex steel (22Cr) and super duplex steel (25Cr) tubing and casing are under development according to oilfield demands.

Titanium alloy oil tubing and casingTitanium alloy features low density, high strength and excellent corrosion resistance, widely used in aerospace, military and automobile industries.In oil extraction, titanium alloy was first successfully applied in offshore oil exploitation.Domestic onshore oilfields are currently carrying out trials on titanium alloy tubing.In the future, titanium alloy tubular products can partially replace nickel alloy pipes.

High-performance oil casingDomestic manufacturers can mass-produce high-end products such as high collapse resistant casing (140TT, 150TT), deep & ultra-deep well casing (140V, 155V, 165V), H₂S stress corrosion resistant casing (C110, 110SS, 125S) and heavy oil thermal recovery casing (110H, 125H).Yet further improvement is required for long-term quality stability.Products including 160TT casing, 170V casing, 165V casing and 125SS casing will remain key R&D targets for China’s seamless steel pipe industry.

Casing for shale gas exploitationShale gas extraction casing boasts reliable internal pressure resistance and sealing performance.Horizontal and extended sections need to withstand cyclic tension, compression and torsion loads with favorable bending capacity (high dogleg severity).It also requires strong thermal stress & strain resistance amid drastic temperature fluctuations during water injection and production, as well as outstanding gas tightness and corrosion resistance for long-term exploitation in acidic reservoirs.Such tubular goods will serve as strategic reserves for large-scale shale gas development in the future.

Premium threaded connectionsMore than 30 types of premium threaded connections have been developed domestically.Statistics show domestic tubing and casing with premium threaded connections account for over 10% of domestic oilfield demand, and the proportion will keep rising.To meet the requirements of ISO13679-2026, domestic companies have made new progress in developing a new generation of high-performance tubing and casing with premium threaded connections.

Coiled tubingCoiled tubing is mainly adopted in sand washing, well cleanup, fishing, scale removal, gas lift, well completion and drilling operations.In recent years, corrosion-resistant stainless steel coiled tubing and tubing with high-end premium threaded connections have enjoyed rapid development.Ultra-large diameter, high precision and intelligent technology represent major development directions.With large-scale domestic shale gas development, ultra-large diameter coiled tubing will become a mainstream trend.

Low alloy steel CT80, CT90, CT110 (outer diameter ≤60.3mm) coiled tubing manufactured by Liaocheng Petroleum Seamless Steel Pipe Co., Ltd. has been successfully applied in oilfields and exported overseas.World-class coiled tubing operation sites have adopted ultra-large diameter coiled tubing equipment with a spooling capacity for pipe of 2.875-inch outer diameter and length up to 4,500 meters.Ultra-large diameter coiled tubing specially designed for fracturing supports large-displacement abrasive perforation and staged fracturing.Three core systems — fully integrated automatic control system, remote command & decision-making system and remote equipment diagnosis system — are expected to realize unmanned wellsite operations in the future.Intelligent operation cuts labor costs while enabling more accurate and efficient construction, which will be the primary development trend of the oilfield sector.

Drill pipeThe Tarim Oilfield is globally recognized as one of the most difficult drilling regions with complex geological structures and extreme service conditions for drill pipes.Sour oilfields are in urgent need of 120SS and 105SS H₂S corrosion resistant drill pipes and connections.Innovative drilling technologies with high weight on bit, high rotation speed and high pump pressure put forward stricter requirements on strength (especially torsional strength), toughness, fatigue and corrosion fatigue resistance of drill string steel.To adapt to ultra-deep wells (around 8,000m) under high temperature and high pressure, the industry will focus on developing ultra-high strength and high toughness drill pipe (165D, low carbon 165D, 150D) and acid-resistant drill pipe such as 120SS.

Expandable tubularExpandable tubular technology is core to petroleum drilling and production. Its application will trigger a technological revolution in energy extraction with unique advantages in offshore resource development.Domestic manufacturers have developed LSX-80 hot stretch reduced electric resistance welded pipe with an expansion rate of 18%.Overseas suppliers have launched 95-grade expandable casing with an expansion rate exceeding 25%.

Continuous pipeline pipeSingle-length seamless steel pipes are commonly welded for gathering lines, gas production pipelines and water injection pipelines in onshore oilfield surface construction.This method brings drawbacks including numerous weld joints, severe air pollution, high labor intensity and low construction efficiency.Laying equipment for continuous pipeline pipe is fixed on-site, while a tractor pulls the pipe head for pipeline deployment.In June 2026, a 12-kilometer φ76.2mm continuous pipeline pipe was successfully laid for the Weizhou 6-1 project in Beibu Gulf, South China Sea.The deployment provides new solutions for marginal offshore oilfield development.Continuous pipeline pipe will become a vital tubular product for subsea pipelines as offshore oil resource exploitation expands.

Product Upgrade Directions for Structural Steel Tubes in Construction

Steel tubular structure is a new energy-saving and eco-friendly construction system known as green building for the 21st century.As a lightweight, high-strength, seismic-resistant, recyclable load-bearing steel structure, it meets China’s demand for energy-efficient buildings and sustained economic growth.

On February 4, 2026, the State Council issued Opinions on Resolving Overcapacity and Achieving Turnaround Development in the Steel Industry.The document clearly promotes steel structure construction.Pilot projects will be carried out alongside shantytown renovation, dilapidated housing reconstruction and seismic housing projects to substantially increase steel structure application.

During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the development and production of round, square, rectangular and special-shaped seamless steel pipes shall meet massive demand for medium-to-high grade structural pipes in high-rise buildings, large-span venues (stadiums, exhibition centers, high-speed railway stations, airport terminals), real estate, highways, railways and other infrastructure.

Hot-formed square and rectangular tubes feature high torsional strength, great stability and attractive appearance.They have been widely used in steel structures including the New Capital Museum, main terminal, connecting buildings, connecting bridges and concourses of Guangzhou New Baiyun International Airport.Maximum sizes include square tubes 500mm×500mm×22mm and 500mm×500mm×16mm, and rectangular tubes 500mm×300mm×16mm.Currently, these three specifications rely on imports.

Cold-formed welded square and rectangular tube production is restricted by manufacturing equipment.Most manufacturers adopt light-load production lines whose rigidity and strength fail to process high-strength steel; many cannot even produce Q345 grade products.Qualified enterprises shall accelerate equipment renovation and develop Q345, Q390, Q420 and Q460 tubular goods for market demand.

Product Upgrade Directions for Construction Machinery Tubing

China’s construction machinery sector has achieved rapid growth in recent years, generating strong demand for key component materials.The hydraulic cylinder industry alone consumes no less than 2 million tons of seamless steel pipes every year, widely used in cranes, loaders, excavators and rotary drilling rigs.Boom arms of cranes impose extremely strict requirements on seamless steel pipe materials, requiring steel grades above 770 MPa or even 890 MPa.

In the future, seamless precision steel pipes for construction machinery hydraulic and pneumatic systems will develop toward low-alloy lightweight tubing (low carbon, low silicon) with good weldability, high strength, high toughness (excellent low-temperature impact toughness), high hardenability, high precision and low cost.

Product Upgrade Directions for Offshore Engineering Tubing

Offshore engineering pipes include seawater desalination tubes, offshore oil engineering pipes and subsea pipeline pipes.Heat transfer tubes for seawater desalination cover cupronickel tubes, aluminum brass tubes, Cu-Ni-Fe-Mn alloy tubes, titanium tubes and others.For a 45,500 m³/d MSF seawater desalination unit, φ32mm×1mm heat transfer tubes provide a heat exchange area of 122,150 m², consuming over 1,000 tons of tubular goods.Small quantities of 304 (main steam pipelines), 316L (spray pipelines) and duplex steel such as 2507 (high-pressure pipelines) are also adopted.Therefore, industrial pure titanium tubes and duplex stainless seamless steel pipes represent the development direction for seawater desalination.

Offshore oil engineering pressure pipes are used for carriers transporting LPG and LNG.Low-temperature steel grades including 2.5Ni, 3.5Ni, 9Ni, 36Ni (-165℃ ~ -60℃) and aluminum alloys are mainstream choices at present.

Tubular components for offshore structures (jackets, drilling platforms, subsea steel piles, conductor casings, mooring supports, module supports, helicopter decks, flare towers, etc.) feature diverse specifications, various steel grades, equal and different outer diameters, variable wall thicknesses, and a large number of Y, K, T tubular joints.Pile and leg pipes for offshore platforms adopt X80Q and X100Q line pipes.Conductor casings for deepwater drilling are evolving toward higher strength grades X100 and X120.High-performance titanium and aluminum alloys are gradually applied in deepwater risers with reliable service performance.

Subsea pipeline pipes bear working pressure exceeding 20 MPa, compared with the maximum 13 MPa for onshore pipelines.Materials include X60, X70, X80, partially high-strength X100 and ultra-high strength X120 steel.Products develop toward large outer diameter and heavy wall thickness.The recently commissioned Baltic Sea gas transmission pipeline uses X70 steel with an outer diameter of 1,219 mm and maximum wall thickness of 41 mm.The pipes must withstand large deformation, collapse, buckling and fatigue loads.Future offshore pipe material R&D focuses on duplex steel and super duplex steel for liquid hydrogen sulfide transportation.The development of offshore LNG transmission pipelines remains a worldwide challenge.

Product Upgrade Directions for Automotive Tubing

Safety, environmental protection, energy conservation and lightweight design are core trends of the automotive industry and important indicators for evaluating automobile manufacturers.High-strength and ultra-high-strength steel are preferred materials and the mainstream upgrade direction for automotive steel.Automotive steel generally targets high strength, lightweight design and energy efficiency.Demand for automotive tubular goods keeps rising alongside growth of China’s passenger vehicle market.Nevertheless, most high-end automotive pipes rely on long-term imports under foreign monopolies for certain brands.

Seamless steel pipe manufacturers in Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang have accelerated product development via structural adjustment and transformation, including camshaft tubes, transmission shaft tubes, airbag tubes, brake system tubes, suspension tubes and door anti-collision tubes.Enterprises shall further stabilize and improve product quality, promote second-party certification, expand market share and boost exports.

Product Upgrade Directions for Municipal Drainage Pipes

Annual consumption of water supply and drainage pipes for civil projects reaches approximately 1 billion meters, covering building water supply pipes, municipal water supply pipes (new water plants, plant renovation, urban pipeline construction and renewal) and drainage pipes.Drainage pipe consumption is comparable to water supply pipes, mostly non-metallic materials.Future municipal construction pipes shall prioritize anti-corrosion performance with intensified research on coating materials and information collection.Material development focuses on composite structures with multi-type plastics, resins and bimetallic materials, plus quick and reliable connection technologies.

Product Upgrade Directions for Mining Construction Machinery Tubing

Oil extraction in China is mainly conducted underground.With continuous improvement of fully-mechanized mining technology, mining machinery imposes stricter requirements on steel materials.Hydraulic supports convert hydraulic energy into mechanical power using emulsion as the medium.Together with roadheaders, shearers, conveyors and pump stations, they constitute fully-mechanized mining equipment.Among the four core sets of mining equipment, hydraulic supports account for 50% of total equipment value.

A hydraulic support consists of canopy, base, hydraulic props, pushing jacks, control valves including safety valves and hydraulic check valves.Hydraulic props lift the support, while pushing jacks on the base realize support moving and conveyor advancement.Prop jacks for mining hydraulic supports differ from ordinary engineering cylinders.The working medium is water mixed with special concentrated emulsion.Stricter environmental requirements encourage direct use of water as the medium.Mine water usually contains high sulfate and chloride ions, forming acidic fluid. Loose mine management leads to harsh working conditions.Current anti-corrosion solutions adopt copper plating and chromium plating. Copper plating causes heavy pollution, while chromium plating delivers unsatisfactory anti-corrosion effects.Therefore, the industry aims to improve the reliability of hydraulic supports, develop new materials for heavy-duty supports and enhance the corrosion resistance of seamless steel pipes for hydraulic cylinders.

Product Upgrade Directions for Petrochemical Tubing

China’s seamless steel pipe for petrochemical industry faces multiple challenges: incomplete standard system, massive reliance on imports for high-performance tubular goods, lagging R&D progress, and insufficient quality control & service awareness of manufacturers.Specific problems include mismatched steel pipes, forgings and welding consumables, inconsistent production size ranges for stainless seamless steel pipes, limited production capacity for large-diameter seamless pipes, unstable stainless steel pipe quality, and insufficient new product development to satisfy industrial demand.European stainless steel pipe enterprises launch more than ten new grades every year, while domestic manufacturers fall behind in this field.

Petrochemical pipes feature special technical requirements, high prices and occupy a large proportion of project investment.The industry calls for cost-effective seamless steel pipes.Chinese pipe manufacturers shall prioritize R&D of high-performance tubular products.

Product Upgrade Directions for Power Grid & Wind Power Tower Tubing

Seamless steel pipe towers are widely adopted in State Grid transmission lines of 110 (66) kV and above.Main products include high-frequency longitudinal welded pipes (ERW/HFW) and submerged arc longitudinal welded pipes (SAWL) made of Q345, Q390, Q420, Q460 steel.In recent years, UHV mainline towers mostly adopt Q420 and Q460 low-alloy high-strength steel.

It is estimated that China’s average annual newly installed wind power capacity will reach 18 million kilowatts from 2026 to 2030, bringing sustained development opportunities for domestic wind turbine and component manufacturers.

Product Upgrade Directions for Thermal Power & Nuclear Power Tubing

Prioritizing high-parameter large-capacity ultra-supercritical thermal power units and million-kilowatt nuclear power units is fundamental for optimizing China’s energy mix and fulfilling energy conservation targets.Domestic manufacturers have achieved historic breakthroughs in key boiler tubes for ultra-supercritical units, filling domestic gaps and breaking foreign monopolies.The domestic market share of home-made high-pressure boiler tubes rose from less than 30% to 90% with large-scale exports, reshaping the global boiler tube market.

By the end of 2026, China had put into operation ultra-supercritical thermal power units with steam parameters of 600℃ with a total capacity of approximately 122.4 million kilowatts (141 units).Although these units only account for 14.2% of domestic thermal power installed capacity, they occupy 80% of global capacity of the same type.

While China leads coal-fired power technology, gaps remain in the R&D and manufacturing of ultra-supercritical boiler tubes compared with advanced foreign countries.To upgrade domestic technology and realize independent development of 600℃~700℃ ultra-supercritical coal-fired power technology, the industry shall develop advanced high-end heat-resistant boiler tubes.

Domestic seamless steel pipe enterprises can supply over 95% of high-pressure boiler tube varieties required domestically.However, supercritical, ultra-supercritical and new-generation units impose stricter requirements on materials and specifications.Domestic manufacturers still have large room to improve R&D capacity and long-term quality stability to fully replace imports.

China has realized mass production of 690 U-shaped heat transfer alloy tubes for steam generators of CPR1000 / AP1000 / EPR million-kilowatt PWR nuclear power plants.In April 2026, the first batch of new-generation 690 U-shaped heat transfer alloy tubes was delivered to the national key demonstration CAP1400 nuclear power project, marking that China’s nuclear power technology and key equipment manufacturing have reached international advanced levels.

At present, the seamless steel pipe industry shall focus on developing large-diameter heat-resistant and high-pressure pipes for supercritical and ultra-supercritical thermal power units, as well as high-performance ferritic and austenitic stainless steel, Mn-Cr-Mo alloy seamless steel pipes for nuclear power plants.Enterprises shall further optimize production processes, stabilize product quality, overcome difficulties of diversified specifications and small batch orders for nuclear pipes, and strive to satisfy diversified, high-quality tubular demand for domestic nuclear power development.

Outlook of China’s Seamless Steel Pipe Industry

Currently, the top priority for China’s seamless steel pipe industry is to achieve breakthroughs in key tubular goods and technologies urgently needed for national construction and future development.By 2030, China aims to build a tubular industrial system featuring strong independent innovation capacity, sustainable development and close integration of industry, universities, research institutes and end users.

Key mainstream tubular varieties shall meet demand from national economy and national defense construction.Some high-end tubular products will reach world-class standards.Remarkable progress will be achieved in product upgrading and corporate transformation, realizing the strategic shift of the seamless steel pipe industry from quantity-oriented development to variety, quality and benefit-oriented growth.

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