Vallourec, a world leader in premium tubular solutions, announced the expansion of its VAM® connection Technology Center in Houston. This center will enable Vallourec to support its customers’ needs with new, innovative products, and to respond to their increased demand to qualify existing product lines to the new standards for extreme well conditions. Full-scale testing is an integral part of the Group’s R&D process, and the extension of the VAM® Connection Technology Center in Houston will double Vallourec’s R&D capacity dedicated to the design and testing of its premium connections in the U.S.

This facility will be specifically dedicated to product testing for shale applications or offshore projects for the Gulf of Mexico. VAM® connections undergo full-scale tests in the well’s most demanding operating conditions to demonstrate their gas tightness: make and break, simulation of tension or compression, high temperatures and fatigue life.

Didier Hornet, Managing Director of Vallourec’s Oil & Gas Activities, declared, "The decision to expand the testing capacity of our Connection Technology Center is in line with the increased demand for premium products in our market, and our clients’ request to qualify our products through full-scale testing. Located in Houston, at the heart of the US oil & gas market, our VAM® Connection Technology Center has already several R&D projects ongoing for important American customers, and illustrates Vallourec’s unrivalled innovation capacity supporting the VAM® connections range."

Building construction was completed in July 2012, and all equipment will be fully operational by the end of 2012 in this 90,000 square feet (8.400 m2) facility.

A worldwide network
The VAM® Connection Technology Center is part of VAM USA, a joint venture between Vallourec, Sumitomo Corporation and NSSMC (Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation, ex-Sumitomo Metal Industries), its long-term partner to develop the VAM® product line.

Vallourec has three such testing facilities around the world (USA, France, and Indonesia), with more than 150 technicians and engineers. Testing is an integral part of the Group’s R&D process, which relies on a network of six R&D centers and 500 researchers worldwide.