TMK Ipsco and GB Tubulars Enter Agreement for Drilling-with-Casing-Connections
05/07/2009 - TMK Ipsco and GB Tubulars enter agreement that grants TMK Ipsco's Catoosa, Okla., finishing mill an exclusive license to make and sell welded tubular products utilizing GB Tubulars' "Coupling for Drilling-with-Casing Operations" patent.
TMK Ipsco and GB Tubulars, LLP have entered into an agreement that grants TMK Ipsco's Catoosa, Okla., finishing mill an exclusive license to make and sell welded tubular products utilizing GB Tubulars' "Coupling for Drilling-with-Casing Operations" patent (U.S. patent 7,347,459).
The companies’ new agreement will allow GB Tubulars' Drilling-with-Casing Connections to be made available as a mill-finished product from GB Tubulars or from any TMK Ipsco Distributor. The companies said that other TMK Ipsco facilities (in addition to the Catoosa mill) would soon be added to the list of facilities that are qualified and approved to finish casing with GB Connections.
TMK Ipsco believes customers will benefit from the economies of a mill-finished solution for these enhanced performance, semi-premium connections.
GB Tubulars, founded in 1980, is an established OCTG distributor with several proprietary casing connection designs. GB designed a line of specialty connections in 2005 for Drilling-with-Casing operations; these connections have been widely used for rotating casing to achieve target and for Drilling-with-Casing/Drilling-with-Liner operations.
TMK Ipsco, a leading producer of energy tubulars, operates one steel mill and nine pipe mills and product finishing facilities in seven states across the United States. TMK Ipsco's pipe mills produce a wide range of seamless and welded energy tubular products including oil & gas well casing and tubing, line pipe, drill pipe, standard pipe and hollow structural sections. TMK Ipsco also manufactures, at two plants in Texas, premium connections for oil and natural gas drilling and production under the ULTRA brand name.
TMK Ipsco operates in North America as a division of TMK, the largest pipe producer in Russia and one of the three global market leaders.
