OREANDA-NEWS. March 11, 2009. TMK (LSE:ТМКS) announces today that it began shipments of 1420mm large-diameter longitudinal welded pipes to Gazprom. The pipes will be used in the construction of the Bovanenkovo-Ukhta gas pipeline.

During the month of March, TMK will ship 5,000 tonnes of 1420mm longitudinal welded pipes with 26.4 mm wall thickness and K60 grade with internal and external anticorrosion coatings. The pipes will be produced at Volzhsky’s newly-commissioned large-diameter longitudinal welded pipe mill.

Volzhsky’s new mill, a key part of TMK’s strategic investment programme, can produce longitudinal welded pipes with diameters of between 530mm to 1420mm, wall thickness of up to 42mm and strength groups of up to X100, which is in line with Gazprom and Transneft standards for new pipelines, including Nord Stream, Eastern Siberia – Pacific and others.

The 1,100 kilometre Bovanenkovo–Ukhta gas trunkline is a part of Gazprom’s Yamal megaproject and will supply the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline with gas from the Bovanenkovo field, the largest on the Yamal Peninsula.