Tenaris and energy infrastructure joint venture (JV) IGI Poseidon have partnered to work on transporting hydrogen through ultra-deep offshore pipelines.
Aimed at tackling challenges in conveying hydrogen under severe conditions and ensuring competitive transmission costs, the pair will jointly conduct qualification testing of high-pressure offshore pipelines.
IGI Poseidon, set up by Greece’s DEPA International Projects and Italy’s Edison, is currently developing natural gas pipeline projects across the Mediterranean and Black Sea region.
Italy’s Tenaris already produces steel tubular vessels and pipes to store and transport hydrogen.
“By combining our expertise with Tenaris’ advanced materials technology, we are reinforcing our commitment to hydrogen transportation and innovation,” said Konstantinos Xifaras, Chairman of IGI Poseidon.
Hydrogen embrittlement, a key challenge in pipeline materials, occurs when hydrogen weakens metals, making rigorous material testing essential for safe and reliable transport.
The DEPA-Edison JV has already been working on the testing of high-strength materials and girth welding under high-pressure conditions to simulate the transport of hydrogen through pipelines already designed for natural gas.
With qualification being carried out by labs in Italy and the US, IGI has focused on fracture toughness testing under pressures up to 330 bar.
Phillippe Darcis, Pipeline Technology Senior Director at Tenaris, said, “Contributing to research on material performance in hydrogen environments is key to our strategy. We are leveraging our expertise and R&D capabilities to support the development of next-generation hydrogen transportation networks.”
The joint effort comes as Europe looks to bolster its imports of green hydrogen from lower-cost regions such as Africa and the Middle East.
Various reports have suggested that using pipelines to transport hydrogen over long distances will prove more cost-effective than shipping hydrogen carriers such as ammonia.
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