OREANDA-NEWS. March 03, 2008. In February 2008, Khartsyzsk Tube Works [KTZ], which is a part of Metinvest Group, produced 18,5 thousand tonnes of large-diameter pipes, reported the press-centre of SCM.

In February, Khartsyzsk Tube Works improved production dynamics as compared to the previous months. The pipes were supplied to USA, Iran and Middle Asia countries.

Production of tubes with anticorrosion coating made 9,6 thousand tonnes in February and has arrived at 12,4 thousand tonnes since the beginning of the year, an 88,9% decrease compared to the first two months of 2007.

"There is a quite clear reason for such dynamics: large projects in Russia and other CIS countries have already been completed, while new ones have not been launched yet. Today we work at a spot market predominantly. Long-term projects will start a bit later. We expect the situation to normalize by autumn," Igor Korytko, Metinvest's Steel and Rolled Products Division Director explained. 

Pipe production is a project business which wholly hinges on construction of new pipelines. A number of large pipelines were completed in H2 2007, while new projects deferred. As a result, large diameter pipe consumption in Russian Federation considerably fell in H2 2007. Such situation could not but affect pipe production and sales by Khartsyzsk Tube Works, since Russian market is the largest KTZ customer.

2008 expects to see launch of large projects both in Russian Federation and Middle Asia. Therefore, consumption of large diameter pipes is expected to grow in H2 2008 as judged by the scheduled projects.

The company entertains great expectation of Middle Asia – China Project. Total volume of pipes needed for this project is estimated at over 1 million tonnes. Portion of KTZ products in the project will be determined in the nearest future.

OAO Khartsyzsk Tube Works (Khartsyzsk, Donetsk Oblast) belongs to Metinvest Group and is the largest CIS producer of longitudinal electric-welded large diameter pipes of 478-1420 mm for major gas and oil pipelines. The company's facilities can produce over 1,6m tonnes of pipes a year.

Khartsyzsk Tube Works has an integrated Quality Control System that meets ISO 9001, ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001, API Spec Q1, DSTU ISO 9001 standards.