TMK IPSCO, the North American division of global pipe manufacturer OAO TMK, hosted an open house today at its new Research & Development Center located at 10120 Houston Oaks Drive in Houston, Texas. During the event, visitors toured several areas of the facility, including the scanning electron microscope (SEM) lab, areas housing mechanical and collapse testing equipment, the corrosion lab and an area featuring connection load testers.

Prasenjit Adhikari, vice president and chief technology officer, TMK IPSCO, commented on the R&D Center’s development: "Since moving into the new center in early January, we have been busy acquiring many of the key pieces of testing equipment that will enable us to turn our R&D vision into a reality. We are excited to open our doors to showcase our industry-leading investments."

TMK IPSCO’s new state-of-the-art R&D Center serves as the heart of the company’s innovation initiatives—new product design and development, experimental and validation testing, and advanced metallurgical research—and is a key part of the company’s long-term strategy to drive growth in oil and gas markets.

The open house was well attended by TMK IPSCO’s key customers and suppliers from throughout the energy market. The event hosted key government officials, including Esperanza "Hope" Andrade, Texas Secretary of State; Texas State Senator Rodney Ellis; Houston City Council Members Oliver Pennington and Helena Brown; as well as Alexander Zakharov, Consul General of the Russian Federation in Houston. Members of the national and local media were also in attendance.

"We are pleased that so many guests were able to attend the open house and see our commitment to innovation first hand," said Vicki Avril, president & CEO, TMK IPSCO. "One of the cornerstones of our long-term strategy is product and service development for oil and gas industry customers. Having a fully-functioning R&D Center will better enable us to focus on customized, engineered solutions for nontraditional drilling environments, as well as on new applications and services for existing products."

TMK IPSCO operates in North America as a division of TMK, a global market leader in energy pipe production. TMK operates 24 production facilities around the world. TMK product offerings include a wide range of seamless and welded energy tubular products including oil & gas drill pipe, well casing and tubing, line pipe, LD pipe, standard pipe, hollow structural sections and related services. TMK also manufactures premium connections for oil and natural gas drilling and production under the ULTRA™ Premium Connections and TMK Premium brand names.

TMK IPSCO has manufacturing plants in Ambridge, Pa.; Baytown, Texas; Blytheville, Ark.; Brookfield, Ohio; Camanche, Iowa; Catoosa, Okla.; Geneva, Neb.; Houston, Texas; Koppel, Pa.; Odessa, Texas; and Wilder, Ky.