Dr. Heinz Jörg Fuhrmann - Schau Verlag Hamburg

salzgitter group
QATAr
SAudi-ArAbiA
PerSiAN Gulf
Abu dhabi
uNiTed ArAb
eMirATeS
Sharjah
dubai
fujairah
OMAN
Gulf Of OMAN
The pipelines in the
Gulf region
EUROPIPE is to supply the pipes
needed for both the gas line commissioned
by Dolphin Energy from Taweelah
to Fujairah (orange) as well as for
the IPIC pipeline from the oil
fields in Habshan to Fujairah (gray)
PHOTO: CORBIS
Pipes for two pipelines in the Middle East
Lucrative 200,000 ton order for EUROPIPE
Profitable pipes business for
Salzgitter,” the Frankfurter Allgemeine
Zeitung recently proclaimed.
It was news from the
Persian Gulf that prompted the FAZ to
take a closer look at Salzgitter’s booming
Tubes Division. Two important pipeline
projects are about to get under way in
the United Arab Emirates, both of which
will make use of premium-quality 48 inch
(1219 mm) OD pipes supplied by Tubes
Division company EUROPIPE. The company’s
large-diameter pipes are in great
demand. What’s more, from the Group’s
perspective, these orders totaling in excess
of 200,000 tons are a fine example of an
efficient value chain, given that they were
booked and processed by Salzgitter’s own
Trading organization.
The two orders also underscore the success
that has resulted from the decision to
intensify marketing activities in this oil-
The new Number One in Europe
Headed by MRW, Salzgitter’s Tubes Division continues its international growth course
A
new family member has joined
the Tubes Division with the arrival
of Salzgitter Mannesmann
Precision GmbH (SMP). In future,
the Division’s precision tubes activities
will be amalgamated under the umbrella
of this unit based in Mülheim an
der Ruhr, which will function as an intermediate
holding company. The Mannesmann
Robur business in the Netherlands
is not being integrated, but will instead
retain its independence as a successful
secondary brand in the precision tubes
segment, majoring on heat exchanger
tubes.
Salzgitter AG’s acquisition of French
specialist manufacturer and former Vallourec
Group member Vallourec Précision
Étirage (VPE) had previously been
approved by the EU antitrust authorities.
Besides VPE and Mannesmann Präzisrohr
GmbH, another old acquaintance joins
the new Precision Tubes Group: The
Zeithain seamless tubes plant in Saxony,
previously owned by Vallourec & Mannesmann
Tubes, has also been taken over
and under its new name Mannesmannrohr
Sachsen GmbH will safeguard supplies
of hot rolled tubes (loops) to the preci-
and gas-rich region of the Arabian Peninsula.
Trading subsidiary Salzgitter Mannesmann
International overcame fierce competition
to win the orders for the two pipelines
which will link booming Abu Dhabi
with the neighboring Emirate of Fujairah.
The 250 km pipeline to be built by local
energy giant Dolphin Energy will transport
natural gas coming ashore from Qatar at
the Taweelah terminal to Fujairah to fuel a
new gas-fired power station. EUROPIPE
will supply the entire quantity of pipes required
amounting to some 120,000 tons.
Another 97,000 tons (almost 160 km) of
pipes will help to build the oil pipeline
commissioned by state oil company IPIC
which will run parallel with the gas line
across a huge tract of the desert sands of
the United Arab Emirates. This pipeline
will also serve the Emirate of Fujairah,
transporting oil produced in Habshan over
a distance of 360 km to a new shipping ter-
sion tubes plants in future. It is also being
merged with its neighbor Mannesmannring
Sachsen GmbH. MHP and VPE were
already heavyweights in their own right,
but in the European theater this new alliance
now ranks as the undisputed market
leader in seamless and welded drawn precision
steel tubes. As a combined undertaking
with annual sales approaching 500
million euros and a workforce of around
2,700 employees, it can lay claim to a
good quarter of the relevant market in the
EU. In future, however, SMP will also play
an important role outside of Europe.
At MHP and VPE the automotive industry
and its suppliers feature strongly
on the customer lists. The mechanical
engineering and power generation industries
also rank as key business partners
of the two sister companies. The
steel tubes plant in Zeithain, with a 400strong
workforce, is now trading under
the name Mannesmannrohr Sachsen
GmbH, and will play a central role in
the future of Europe’s precision tubes
market leader. Major investments running
into millions will ramp up annual
capacity from 170,000 tons to over
200,000 tons.
minal on the Gulf of Oman, where it will
be loaded on board supertankers. The
project has a politically sensitive background,
in that the pipeline bypasses the
Straits of Hormuz, a narrow passage which
in times of crisis threatens to quickly become
a serious supply bottleneck.
The pipes for this oil pipeline will be
manufactured in the second half of 2008.
Meanwhile, production of the large-diameter
pipes for the gas line has already commenced
at the EUROPIPE works in Mülheim
an der Ruhr and Dunkirk (France).
These orders, which will help to safeguard
capacity utilization through to February
2009, are not the only ones with such a farreaching
effect. Others, such as the spectacular
record order for the Baltic Pipeline
will extend until the year 2010.
As the FAZ succinctly put it, “The tubes
business is a success story for the Salzgitter
steel Group.”
SMP
grows in Mexico
The Precision Tubes Group
headed by Salzgitter Mannesmann
Precision GmbH, part of the
Tubes Division of Salzgitter AG,
is consolidating its position in the
North American (NAFTA) market,
where the outlook for growth
is excellent. With the acquisition of
Mexican company Bresmex Tuberia
S.A. de C.V., SMP now has its
own production facility in the region.
In future, the company will
trade as Salzgitter Mannesmann
Precisión S.A. de C.V. With a workforce
of some 100 employees, the
plant manufactures welded drawn
precision steel tubes in the metropolis
of Guadalajara. High-quality
shock absorber tubes for the automobile
industry feature among its
principal products.
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