Tenaris idled the seamless pipe heat treatment and finishing line in March 2020 due to declining oil prices and the economic disruptions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The company completed construction on a US$15 million meltshop at Koppel last June, and in the past few months has dramatically ramped up its U.S. production to meet increasing demand.

“From our offices to the manufacturing floor and throughout our service centers, our team has been working incredibly hard to scale up operations in a short amount of time. This has been a strategic reboot of our U.S. industrial network to best serve a stronger market with flexibility and precision,” said Tenaris US president Luca Zanotti in a statement.

In preparation for the heat treatment line’s April 2022 restart date, Tenaris will hire 75 new personnel and spend roughly US$3.5 million to update the line’s equipment.

Read more here.