OREANDA-NEWS. On 08 June 2009 was announced, that United Metallurgical Company (OMK) had signed an agreement for the delivery of large-diameter pipes for the OML 58 O.U.R. (Obite-Ubeta-Rumuji) gas pipeline project in Nigeria. The agreement specifies that Vyksa Steel Works (VSW, Nizhni Novgorod Region), part of United Metallurgical Company (OMK), is supposed to produce 25 thousand tonnes of 1,067-mm triple polyethylene coated pipes with wall thickness of 19.1 mm to 25.4 mm from X65 steel in the third quarter of 2009.

The OML 58 O.U.R. gas pipeline, to be built in southern Nigeria, will become part of the pipeline system connecting natural gas fields, plants for natural gas liquefaction for export deliveries, and oceanfront ports. The project operator is TOTAL, which implements the project in cooperation with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

This will be OMK’s first LDP supply project for both the African market and TOTAL. The signing of the agreement was preceded by serious preparations of VSW’s facilities for compliance with the requirements of TOTAL and the OML 58 O.U.R. project. In 2006 and early 2009, representatives of the oil and gas company conducted three audits of the VSW LDP Electric Pipe-Welding Division (LDP EPWD), which confirmed VSW’s technical capability to produce pipes with corrosion-resistant coating according to TOTAL's requirements.