Severstal’s ZAO Izhora Pipe Mill, reported to Russia’s only producer of large diameter pipes up to 18.3 meters in length, has successfully completed a certification procedure for compliance of its products with the Det Norske Veritas offshore pipeline quality standard. Certification of Izhora Pipe Mill pipes according to this standard is consistent with Izhora Pipe Mill’s strategy of being a multipurpose supplier of pipes for the construction of oil and gas pipelines.

Mr Î Urnev GD of Izhora Pipe Mill said “A DNV certificate is an international acknowledgement of the quality of our pipes, which were ranked highly by competent experts in the oil and gas industry and are in strong demand in the market. Our clients include companies such as Gazprom, Transneft and NOVATEK and we intend to broaden our cooperation with them under, amongst others, the Nord Stream Project. We are confident that this certificate will serve to complement our unique experience in the production of large-diameter pipes, enabling us to expand the circle of our consumers and improve the quality of our services.”

Located in the Kolpino District of St Petersburg, ZAO Izhora Pipe Mill, commissioned in July 2006, produces large- iameter pipes for the oil and gas industry and its products have been certified in compliance with Quality Management System Standards DNV, GOST R ISO 9001-2001, ISO/TS 29001:2003, API Specification Q1, Gazprom and Transneft standards.

About USD 300 million has been invested in the mill. Overall production in the first half of 2007 was about 101,000 tonnes of pipes. IPM is capable of producing up to 650,000 tons of single-joint welded pipes per year. Izhora Pipe Mill plans to produce 375,000 tonnes of large diameter pipes by the end of the year. The mill is scheduled to be up and running at full capacity in 2008.