Russia-based TMK, one of the world's leading oil and gas steel pipe producers, has announced its production results for the third quarter ended on September 30, 2011.
For the first nine months of 2011, TMK shipped 3.19 million mt of pipes to customers, representing an 11.7 percent increase compared to the first nine months of 2010. For the third quarter, total pipe shipments of TMK decreased by 5.6 percent quarter on quarter to 1.02 million mt due to low demand and growing pipe imports into Russia.
In Q3, TMK's OCTG shipment volumes decreased by 5.9 percent quarter on quarter, while in the first nine months the volumes increased by 8.1 percent compared to the same period of the previous year. Volumes of large diameter pipe shipments decreased in the third quarter compared to the previous quarter; however, in the first nine months the volumes increased by 9.5 percent year on year.
In the first nine months of 2011, TMK shipped about 333,000 premium connections, up 7.5 percent compared to the corresponding period of 2010.
TMK expects a better operational performance in the fourth quarter reaffirming its guidance to increase shipments in 2011 compared to the last year.