Vallourec & Sumitomo Tubos do Brasil Ltda (VSB), a Brazil-based seamless pipe joint venture formed by Japanese Sumitomo Group's subsidiary Sumitomo Metal Industries and French pipemaker Vallourec, began a test operation at its integrated seamless pipe steelworks, by successfully piercing its first billet at 9:00 p.m. local time on December 11, 2010.
According to a Sumitomo release, following the completion of the rolling mill, upstream facilities, including charcoal blast furnaces that enable carbon neutral iron making processes, will begin operation in the second quarter of 2011. Then a full operation as an integrated blast furnace steelworks will commence.
VSB plans to obtain approvals from the American Petroleum Institute (API) and its customers such as major oil companies and fully ramp up the steelworks by the first half of 2012 in order to meet growing demand for global energy development.