OREANDA-NEWS. September 22, 2011. Standard & Poor's Ratings Services (S&P) raised long-term corporate credit rating on TMK, one of the world’s leading oil and gas steel pipe producers, to 'B+' from 'B'. At the same time, the Russia national scale rating was raised to 'ruA' from 'ruA-'. The upgrade reflects the improvement in TMK's liquidity and its operating and financial performance in the first half of 2011.

In the first half of 2011, TMK’s fully adjusted ratio of debt to EBITDA improved to 3.3x on an annualized basis, S&P speaks.

Another reason for the upgrading is TMK's liquidity that has improved. S&P have raised its assessment to "adequate" from "less than adequate", based on TMK's refinancing of substantial maturities due in 2011-2012.

The stable outlook reflects Standard & Poor's view that TMK will continue to benefit from sufficiently supportive market conditions in Russia and its key oil and gas end markets, as well as from current oil and gas prices.