Interpipe rolled the first lot of seamless pipes, using the billets, produced at the new Dniprosteel electric steel-smelting complex. The first pipe was rolled at Interpipe NTRP plant, using a steel billet, produced in the course of the first heat.
The first pipe passed the entire set of tests, which confirmed the high quality of the billet's steel. Production of the first pipe means that Interpipe moves to the vertically integrated company structure: from scrap procurement, through steel smelting, and up to the production of steel pipes and railway wheels. The list of consumers of Dniprosteel pipe billets will include two Company's plants namely Interpipe NTRP and Interpipe NIKO TUBE. At present both enterprises are ready for integration with the Dniprosteel electric steel smelting complex.
Mr Alexander Kirichko GM of Interpipe said that "One of the major reasons for Dniprosteel construction is to ensure the provision of Company' plants with our own billets for seamless pipes and railway wheels. Interpipe currently purchases 70% of steel billets for seamless pipes from external suppliers. When Dniprosteel reaches its full capacity in 2014, Interpipe's self sufficiency in billets for production of seamless pipes will state for 90%. Thus, the vertical integration of the company will be completed."
The rolling of the first pipe was carried out by one of the Interpipe NTRP shops, producing oil and gas pipes. Twelve billets with the weight of 100 tons were cut into ingots for production of casings (pipes used for oil and gas extraction). The rolling process resulted in 94 pipes with the length of 12 meters each.
Mr Andrei Korotkov chairman of Interpipe NTRP board said that "Production of seamless pipes and railway wheels out of the continuously cast billets will allow Interpipe’s mastering and certification of new types of products, such as, for instance, corrosion-resistant pipes according to 5CT American standard and many other products. In addition to that we expect a considerable reduction in the metal discharge coefficient. Only for pipes we can save approximately 5000 tonnes of metal a year."
