American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2015 - 111

SpecialReport: Tubulars Technology

TMK IPSCO has accelerated upgrades at its Ambridge, Pa., facility. In conjunction with logistics
enhancements and new products, the company says these efforts will enable it to help
operators reduce costs.

and chief commercial officer of TMK
IPSCO. "Today, end users are looking
for a partner that will help them find cost
savings," he says. "This partner needs to
be able to apply existing products in new
ways, or help remove inefficiencies from
the supply chain. That can come in the
form of offering help with freight or
technical support the end-user normally
would need to contract."
To help customers reduce costs, Barnes
says TMK IPSCO is developing products
that minimize unnecessary processing.
As an example, he offers TMK IPSCO's
I80TM grade, which the company plans to
update this year.
"What is unique about I80 is that it
does not require heat treatment, which
can be expensive," Barnes says. "It is
not appropriate for all environments.
However, by having our technical sales
engineers work with the oil and gas company to better understand the requirements
for a given well, we may be able to
suggest I80 or another product that meets
their requirements at lower overall cost."
He says TMK IPSCO's I95 grade can
offer savings in nonsour wells with fracturing pressures that exceed the burst ratings available on L80 and N80 pipe, but
do not require the burst ratings associated
with P110.

Barnes adds that TMK IPSCO is refining products to reduce total cost of
ownership. "We have modified our TMK
UP ULTRA FXTM premium connection
so it can be reused with minimal refurbishing cost. Specifically, we provide a
tube that will allow for two cuts on the

upset before it needs to be re-upset. So
the user can wear the threads out, cut
them off and rethread them without having
to go through the complete re-upset process
for the tube."
How much that saves will vary from
application to application, but Barnes
calculates that the savings could add to
as much as 10 percent.
Barnes says TMK IPSCO has continued to invest in its facilities throughout
the downturn and even accelerated a key
project. "We saw earlier in the year that
the reduced activity would reduce new
OCTG demand, so we took the opportunity
to complete a project at our seamless
pipe mill in Ambridge, Pa., that we had
planned for 2016. The project involved
taking the mill down for most of July
and part of August to make improvements
that would give us better productivity,
better efficiency and better product quality," he details.
In June, TMK IPSCO received American Metal Market's Pipe and Tube Manufacturer of the Year Award for 2014, a
year in which Barnes says the company
set records for safety, productivity and
value-added products. "We keep working
on all three areas," he reports. "For example, we have reduced our safety incident
rate from 0.71 last year to 0.67 year to
date."
The company also is refining its logistics
capabilities to ensure that it can get pipe
to distributors more quickly, which should
reduce inventories. "We have increased

With its jumbo bloom vertical caster, TimkenSteel says it can produce lengthy and reliable pipe efficiently and affordably.

SEPTEMBER 2015 111

American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2015

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