The Roles of H2S Gas in Behavior of Carbon Steel Corrosion in Oil and Gas Environment: A Review

Abstract

Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) is the most dangerous element which exists in oil and gas reservoir. H₂S acidifies water which causes pitting corrosion to carbon steel pipelines. Corrosion reaction will increase fast when it combines with oxygen and carbon dioxide (CO₂). Thus, they can significantly reduce service life of transportation pipelines and processing facilities in oil and gas industries. Understanding corrosion mechanism of H₂S is crucial to study since many severe deterioration of carbon steels pipelines found in oil and gas industries facilities. To investigate H₂S corrosion accurately, it requires studying physical, electrical and chemical properties of the environment. This paper concentrates, especially, on carbon steel corrosion caused by H₂S gas. How this gas reacts with carbon steel in oil and gas reservoir is also discussed. This paper also reviews the developments of corrosion prediction software of H₂S corrosion. The corrosion mechanism of H₂S combined with CO₂ gas is also in focused.