Russian pipe producing company United Metallurgical Company (OMK) has announced that its Russia-based Chusovoy Steel Works (ChSW) stopped producing steel through its open-hearth furnaces on March 31. The halt of the last open-hearth furnace is the next stage of the company's large-scale reconstruction which includes rejecting old and unprofitable technologies and turning to market-dictated production, namely the production of casing pipes and high durability oil well tubing with premium threads.
After the open-hearth furnaces are shut down, the plant will start dismantling its duplex shop. The sintering plant and converters have nearly been torn down. The blast furnace No. 1 and gas purifying facilities of the duplex workshop are also being dismantled.
The construction of the pipe and steel-melting complex in Chusovoy is the biggest project in Russia's ferrous metallurgy industry today. The complex will produce up to one million mt of steel per year to make 500,000 mt of seamless pipes for oil and gas and up to 300,000 mt of rolled sections and springs. The project will require over RUB 50 billion ($1.4 billion) of investments.