TMK Ipsco Opens Heat Treat Facility at Baytown
04/14/2009 - TMK Ipsco completes construction of a new heat treat facility at its Baytown Works designed to heat treat and finish seamless tubing and casing for horizontal and deeper gas well applications.
TMK Ipsco has completed construction of a new heat treat facility at its Baytown Works in Baytown, Texas. The efficient, modern facility, which will heat treat and finish mainly seamless tubing and casing ranging in diameter from 2-3/8 to 7-5/8 inches, has been designed to place TMK IPSCO at the forefront of tube and pipe heat treating production.
Initiated by eh company more than two years ago, the new facility is coming on stream at a time when more high-performance pipe is needed in the American market. Capable of an annual production of 85,000 tons of quenched and tempered products certified to API 5CT standards, the new facility has also been designed to produce an additional 15,000 tons per year with minor upgrades as market demand increases.
The new heat treat facility will employ approximately 50 people. It will complement the existing Baytown facility, which also performs various finishing operations such as pipe upsetting and threading.
The new heat treat facility will employ approximately 50 people. It will complement the existing Baytown facility, which also performs various finishing operations such as pipe upsetting and threading.
Equipment for the new facility was sourced from several leading North American suppliers, and is unique in that all processes, including the mill’s hot end and finishing processes, are directly linked together and are highly automated. "This will result in higher product quality, improved productivity and increased employee safety compared to other mills of this type," said Jim Tregenza, Vice President of Operations for TMK Ipsco.
The new facility—an important addition to TMK Ipsco's product offering—will move the company into the higher value-added market serving the horizontal and deeper gas wells that are more common in today’s unconventional shale fields.
TMK Ipsco operates in North America as a division of TMK, Russia’s largest pipe producer and one of the top three producers worldwide. A leading producer of energy tubular, TMK Ipsco operates one steel mill and nine pipe mills and product finishing facilities in seven states across the United States. The company'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 structurals. TMK Ipsco also manufactures premium connections for oil and natural gas drilling and production under the ULTRA brand name at two plants in Texas.
