The Mexican pipe producer Tubacero began production this week of 48-inch steel tubes, which will supply the first stage of the Los Ramones pipeline.
Teodoro González Garza, director of the company, said they expect to finish manufacturing the 118 kilometers of such tubes-which were previously not manufactured in Mexico-sometime in March 2014.
"In our original schedule, we projected the manufacturing start date at early January 2014, and that means this project will be completed in advance," he said.
The intention is to free production capacity as soon as possible in January to participate in the tender for the second tranche of supplier megaproject, "Los Ramones II", which involves another 728 kilometers of pipeline, or about 320,000 tons of steel.