Vallourec details Cleanwell, its grease-free coating for well tubing
On October 15, 2026, Vallourec published a detailed presentation of CLEANWELL, its dry coating designed to replace greases used on connections for oil and gas well tubing. This is not a launch: the group is providing an update on a product line developed since the early 2000s, highlighting time savings on drilling platforms, operator safety, and regulatory compliance.
A dry coating applied at the factory in place of threading greases
According to the press release, CLEANWELL is based on a multilayer system incorporating a dry lubricating film. This coating is applied at the factory on VAM premium connections for well tubing (OCTG), as an alternative to storage and threading greases. The tubes thus arrive on the drilling platform practically ready for use, without the step of removing storage grease to apply threading grease.
Vallourec cites a reduction in installation time of up to 30% compared to traditional lubricants, as well as a storage duration of up to three years or more. The most recent version, launched in 2019, is qualified according to API RP5 C5:2017 CAL-IV and ISO 13679:2019 CAL-IV protocols.
The group also emphasizes safety and environmental arguments. It states that many greases still in use contain carcinogenic, mutagenic, or reproductive toxic (CMR) substances, and that their application on site increases operator exposure in the "red zone" near the tubes. According to Vallourec, eliminating grease also reduces the risks of slips on the drilling floor and water-intensive cleaning operations.
Norway, Middle East, Gulf of Mexico: cited deployments
The press release details several references. For a North Sea operator, Norwegian regulations, which require the elimination of discharges, constituted the primary adoption factor: more than 14,000 CLEANWELL connections have been delivered to Norway since the first descent of tubes equipped with the latest generation.
In the Middle East, the solution was used on more than 2,000 connections, equivalent to 24 km, on onshore and offshore fields, for well architectures some of which exceeded 6,000 m. In 2025, the first VAM SLIJ-3 connection equipped with CLEANWELL was descended for an American operator in the Gulf of Mexico, under high pressure and high temperature conditions: 397 connections, representing more than 15,000 feet, presented by the group as the solution's first success in the region.
On the industrial side, Vallourec states that it has deployed CLEANWELL capacities across multiple sites in order to meet what it describes as the "growing demand" from its customers and serve them in its key markets.
