Perforating Gun RFQ — What to Specify Before You Quote Gun Carrier Pipe
Buyers search perforating guns, perforating gun pipe, or plain perforating when a completion program needs hardware on site — and the request often collapses to “gun pipe, please quote.” That hides the decisions that drive fit: which gun type the carrier serves, how the gun is conveyed, what dimensional tolerances the gun design needs, and how inspection is proven.
On live CNPS pages the hard product path is API 5CT Perforating Gun Pipes — carrier pipe used to produce perforating guns run in oil and gas wells. The OCTG Selection and RFQ Guide lists it as a completion-adjacent row, not production tubing. Soft educational posts — the process of perforating and packers and perforating — explain what perforating is. Neither is a Selection & RFQ brief. This page turns the gun program into quote fields.
Start with the gun program, not with a pipe label
The carrier pipe is a component of the gun the perforating contractor or gun maker builds. Name the program before you ask for pipe:
| Program question | What the RFQ must answer |
|---|---|
| Gun type | Conventional gun or horizontal-well gun (both named on the live PDP), or another type to confirm? |
| Well trajectory | Vertical / deviated, or horizontal section — the PDP ties gun type to trajectory? |
| Conveyance | How the gun string is run (for example wireline or tubing-conveyed) — state it so the gun maker’s drawing, not the pipe supplier, sets length and connections? |
| Hole pattern / phasing | Which hole pattern the gun drawing calls for (the PDP asks for it)? |
| Charges and explosives | Out of scope for this pipe RFQ — charges, detonating cord, and firing heads come from your gun system supplier, not from the carrier pipe line? |
Keep the pipe RFQ separate from explosives procurement. CNPS publishes carrier pipe; it does not publish shaped charges, firing systems, or perforating services on these pages, so do not ask for them on this line.
Product path — map to the published carrier pipe page
One live product page owns the hard figures: API 5CT Perforating Gun Pipes. The page says various gun types can be produced, including conventional guns and horizontal-well guns, so the carrier pipe must hold dimensional precision and toughness through charge detonation and retrieval. Use only the published figures:
| Published feature | Figure on the live PDP |
|---|---|
| OD tolerance | ≤ ±0.5% |
| Wall thickness (WT) tolerance | ≤ ±0.8% |
| Tortuosity | ≤ 1 mm/m |
| Swelling ratio | ≤ 5 mm |
| Burr height | ≤ 5 mm |
| Stability | Long-term stability of physical dimension and performance |
| Standard reference | Company standard QCBQB 232-2013 (as in current copy) |
The page treats these as the on-page baseline and asks buyers to confirm inspection criteria for their gun design. It does not publish an OD / WT size chart, steel grade list, or hole-pattern catalog — so the RFQ must carry those from your gun drawing. Do not read a grade, size range, or API monogram claim into the product title; ask for documents.
How to read the path:
- Gun type → carrier — conventional, horizontal-well, or other (confirm type).
- Geometry from your drawing — OD, WT, length, and hole pattern; the pipe supplier matches supply to the drawing.
- Tolerances — compare your design limits with ≤ ±0.5% OD, ≤ ±0.8% WT, ≤ 1 mm/m tortuosity.
- Post-shot behavior — swelling ratio ≤ 5 mm and burr height ≤ 5 mm as published; state your own retrieval limits.
- Standard and inspection — QCBQB 232-2013 reference or your project spec; marking and packaging.
Scope stack — what else touches the perforating job
A perforating job sits inside the cased-hole completion. Keep adjacent line items separate and named:
- Carrier pipe — API 5CT Perforating Gun Pipes as above.
- Depth correlation — the live Casing Collar Locator PDP lists confirmation of perforation depths / intervals and depth control in casing and tubing among its applications; published specs include 105 MPa max pressure, 177 °C max temperature, and 38 mm diameter. Quote it as its own line if you need it.
- Cased-hole logging context — if the program pairs perforating with cased-hole evaluation, see the open-hole vs cased-hole logging buyer guide.
- String accessories — blast joints sit near producing intervals where returns cause turbulence; they are a separate OCTG row in the OCTG Selection and RFQ Guide.
- Lifecycle view — the well construction lifecycle map lists perforating carriers under tubulars, with the rule not to invent grade lists or threads that are not on the PDP you cite.
No invented charge types, shot densities, penetration figures, gun sizes, steel grades, prices, plants, case studies, or certificate seals.
Perforating gun carrier pipe RFQ checklist
- Gun type — conventional, horizontal-well, or other (name it).
- Well trajectory and conveyance — vertical / deviated / horizontal; how the gun is run.
- Gun drawing or BOM — the PDP asks you to share it so supply can match the perforating program.
- OD and WT — from your drawing; no size chart is published, so state them.
- Steel grade — state the grade your gun design requires; ask CNPS to confirm.
- Tolerances — OD ≤ ±0.5%, WT ≤ ±0.8%, tortuosity ≤ 1 mm/m as published; flag tighter limits.
- Hole pattern — pattern and phasing from your gun design.
- Post-shot limits — swelling ratio and burr height (≤ 5 mm each as published); your retrieval needs.
- Standard, inspection, marking, packaging — QCBQB 232-2013 or project spec; inspection documents required.
- Commercial — quantity, length, destination, need-by date; send via request a quote.
Send one brief
A useful request fits on one page: gun type, trajectory and conveyance, drawing reference, OD / WT / grade, tolerance limits, hole pattern, post-shot limits, standard and inspection, and commercial fields. Confirm figures only against the live carrier pipe page — do not extrapolate sizes or grades it does not publish.
Ready to quote? Start from API 5CT Perforating Gun Pipes, check the carrier row in the OCTG Selection and RFQ Guide, add a Casing Collar Locator line if you need depth correlation, and send it via request a quote. Background reading: the process of perforating · packers and perforating.
