One of the largest Russian pipe producers, ChTPZ Group, has announced that on November 18 this year it commissioned the new 950,000 mt capacity electro-smelting facility at its subsidiary Pervouralsky Novotrubny Works (PNTZ).
As SteelOrbis previously reported, the construction of PNTZ's new electro-smelting facility, started in 2007, will allow ChTPZ Group to achieve vertical integration in the seamless pipe segment, making it almost self-sufficient in high quality billets for seamless pipe production.
The total investments in the construction of PNTZ's new electro-smelting facility, the equipment of which was supplied by German plantmaker SMS Demag, amounted to Ruble 19 billion (about $613 million), including Ruble 8 billion (about $258 million) loaned by Russia's largest state-owned bank Sberbank.
The designed capacity of the new electro-smelting facility is planned to be reached in 2011.