Russia-based TMK, one of the world's leading oil and gas steel pipe producers, has announced its production results for the period ending March 31, 2011.
For the first three months of 2011, TMK shipped 1,077,000 mt of pipes to customers, representing a 15.4 percent increase compared to the first three months of 2010, and generally maintaining the record level of production reached in the fourth quarter of last year.
Of the total volume of TMK products shipped, 380,000 mt (35.3 percent) were made up of OCTG, and 218,000 mt (20.2 percent) of line pipe. OCTG shipment volumes increased by 3.3 percent and 4.7 percent over the fourth quarter of 2010 and the first quarter of 2010, respectively. Volumes of large diameter pipe shipments remained strong in the first three months of 2011 at 213,000 mt, which is 42.6 percent more than in the first three months of 2010.
In the first three months of 2011, TMK shipped about 108,000 premium connections developed by the company's Russian (TMK family) and American (ULTRA) divisions, which is 20.6 percent more than in the fourth quarter of 2010. Of the total volume of premium connection shipments, the share of ULTRA threads was 72 percent.
TMK expects the North American market for OCTG pipes to remain attractive over the long term, as the increase in complexity of unconventional drilling results in higher consumption of premium pipe products.