North American tubular product manufacturer TMK IPSCO announced Monday that it has completed the first phase of its plan to expand the threading capacity for its connections line. This move is in response to increased demand that the company expects to see from the US oil shale business.
The first phase of expanding threading capacity of TMK IPSCO's ULTRA Premium Connections product line is the commissioning of a third production line at the TMK-Houston facility with two scheduled shifts, the addition of a night shift at TMK-Odessa and the installation of ULTRA manufacturing equipment and TMK-Tulsa.
The Russian-owned company says that the increase in ULTRA Premium Connections production capacity mirrors the growth in demand for these products following the intensive development of US shale plays. "The overwhelming interest from our customers in ULTRA products in the current plays as well as in future plays like the Marcellus Shale, where ULTRA has been one of the first to make Premium Connection Sales, made it a necessity to increase the production volume of these products" said Vicki Avril, TMK IPSCO President.
When the ULTRA facilities were acquired in December 2006, their available production capacity was 400,000 ft per month (approximately 4,600 net tons per month). Since that purchase, ULTRA has focused its Research and Development efforts on designing connections for difficult applications, in particular the challenges faced by E&P companies as they operate in the different shale plays. The implementation of the first phase of the expansion plan increased production capacity to 1.25 million feet per month (14,375 net tons per month). Phase two of the expansion plan consists of completing the installation of equipment and ramping-up production at the Tulsa facility and commencing work at TMK-Blytheville to allow it to manufacture ULTRA connections. Once the second phase is completed, the total monthly production capacity will reach 1.5 million feet (17,250 net tons per month).
ULTRA connections have been used in shale plays since July 2004. Since then, their market share has grown to 30 percent , allowing them to become the most widely used Premium Connections in US shale plays.
TMK IPSCO operates in North America as a division of TMK, the largest pipe producer in Russia and one of the three global market leaders. TMK IPSCO is a leading producer of energy tubulars. It operates one steel mill and nine pipe mills and product finishing facilities in seven states across the United States. TMK IPSCO`s pipe mills produce a wide range of seamless and welded energy tubular products including oil & gas well casing and tubing, line pipe, drill pipe, standard pipe and hollow structural sections. TMK IPSCO also manufactures, at two plants in Texas, premium connections for oil and natural gas drilling and production under the ULTRA brand name.