OREANDA-NEWS. Vyksa Steel Works (VSW, Nizhni Novgorod Region), part of United Metallurgical Company (OMK), has manufactured 200 thousand tonnes of 1,420-mm pipes for the installation of the North European Gas Pipeline (NEGP).

According to the press service of OMK, at present, OMK is supplying Gazprom with pipes for the construction of NEGP under its second agreement for 170 thousand tonnes of 1,420-mm pipes, of which 106 thousand tonnes of pipes are those with a wall thickness of 21.6 mm and about 65 thousand tonnes of 25.8-mm-wall pipes.

As of today, OMK is the only supplier of 1,420-mm pipes for the construction of NEGP. VSW, in association with specialists of Norsk Hydro, Norway, is now completing the tests of a trial batch of pipes for subsea systems according to the DNV standards. When it masters the production of such pipes, OMK will be able to participate in Gazprom-arranged biddings for the right to supply them for subsea sections of NEGP.

The pipe of 1,420 mm in diameter are produced at the TESA-1420 line, which was launched at VSW in April 2005 and is now one of the most advanced line in the world. Due to the simultaneous implementation of several large-scale pipeline projects and the increase in consumption of large-diameter pipes (LDP) in the Russian market, OMK had decided to install the second stepwise molding press (produced by SMS Meer, Germany) at the TESA-1420 line in 2007, which will result in the increase in the annual 1,420-mm pipe production capacity from 570 to 950 thousand tonnes.

ОМК also decided to build in 2007 two new lines for the production of external corrosion resistant coating and modernize its line for internal corrosion resistant coating at the VSW Electric Pipe-Welding Division for LDP. This decision was made due to the increase in the demand of Russian oil and gas companies for insulated pipes for the construction of main pipelines and the development of new deposits.

In 2008, OMK will have the world's most advanced and powerful LDP production complex with a capacity of 85 pipes an hour, which is equivalent to the annual production capacity of 2 million tonnes. To provide wide sheets for the LDP production, OMK decided to install the "Wide-Sheet Mill 5000" steel works complex to be commissioned in 2010.