The Russian steel producer Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) has announced that, within the scope of its cooperation agreement signed with Russia's biggest gas company Gazprom in 2007, the products of its new plate mill 5000 will be used for the construction of pipelines in Siberia and the Far East.
MMK's new €2 billion euro plate mill 5000, with a designed annual capacity of 1.5 million mt, is to be commissioned on July 17, 2009.
Gazprom and the pipemaking companies which supply products for the needs of the oil and gas industry are considered to be among the strategic partners of MMK. In 2008, MMK's deliveries of steel products to local pipe producers exceeded 1.6 million mt, i.e. 26 percent of the company's total sales in the domestic market.
In addition, MMK is implementing a development program for the adoption of STO Gazprom series 9000 corporate standards requirements, in order to receive Gazprom's quality management systems certification in March 2010.
As SteelOrbis previously reported, in 2007 MMK and Gazprom signed a cooperation agreement for the period up to 2015, aimed at securing steel supplies from MMK to Gazprom and to its associated companies involved in manufacturing steel pipes for Gazprom.