March 25, 2005 — Ipsco Inc. is installing a state-of-the-art high speed Oil Country Tubular Goods finishing lines at its Blytheville, Ark., pipe mill.

The new facilities will have the capability to upset, thread and couple 175,000 tons of 1.9- to 4.5-inch diameter OCTG products produced by Ipsco's Blytheville facility. Ipsco says the new lines will produce commercial product by the end of this year.

"This investment is part of Ipsco's overall strategy to continue to build a strong position in energy tubular product markets and to add value through further processing of its steel products," said Joe Russo, Senior Vice President of the company.

"The Blytheville pipe mill has fulfilled its objective to be an industry leading, high productivity pipe mill and these new finishing facilities will better serve our customers through improved internal quality control and more responsive delivery," said Joe Russo. Products from the Blytheville facility complement the company's production of energy and industrial tubular products from its Camanche, Iowa, and Canadian pipe mills.

Ipsco operates steel mills at three locations and pipe mills at six locations in Canada and the United States. As a low-cost North American steel producer, Ipsco has a combined annual steelmaking capacity of 3,500,000 tons. The company's tubular facilities produce a wide range of tubular products including line pipe, oil and gas well casing and tubing, standard pipe and hollow structurals, for a combined annual capacity of 1,775,000 tons. Steel can also be further processed at Ipsco's five temper leveling and coil processing facilities.