ISO 15156-2:2015 gives requirements and recommendations for the selection and qualification of carbon and low-alloy steels for service in equipment used in oil and natural gas production and natural gas treatment plants in H2S-containing environments, whose failure can pose a risk to the health and safety of the public and personnel or to the environment. It can be applied to help to avoid costly corrosion damage to the equipment itself. It supplements, but does not replace, the materials requirements of the appropriate design codes, standards or regulations.

ISO 15156-2:2015 addresses the resistance of these steels to damage that can be caused by sulfide stress-cracking (SSC) and the related phenomena of stress-oriented hydrogen-induced cracking (SOHIC) and soft-zone cracking (SZC).

ISO 15156-2:2015 also addresses the resistance of these steels to hydrogen-induced cracking (HIC) and its possible development into stepwise cracking (SWC).

ISO 15156-2:2015 is concerned only with cracking. Loss of material by general (mass loss) or localized corrosion is not addressed.

Table 1 provides a non-exhaustive list of equipment to which this part of ISO 15156 is applicable, including permitted exclusions.

ISO 15156-2:2015 applies to the qualification and selection of materials for equipment designed and constructed using load controlled design methods. For design utilizing strain-based design methods, see ISO 15156-1:2015, Clause 5.

Annex A lists SSC-resistant carbon and low alloy steels, and A.2.4 includes requirements for the use of cast irons.

ISO 15156-2:2015 is not necessarily suitable for application to equipment used in refining or downstream processes and equipment.