20
Tube Products International March 2013
25 – 28 June 2013
Krasnaya Presnya
Moscow, Russia
in conjunction with:
RUSSIA ESSEN
WELDING & CUTTING
2013
I n t e r n a t i o n a l T r a d e F a i r
f o r M e t a l l u r g y ,
M a c h i n e r y ,
P l a n t T e c h n o l o g y
& P r o d u c t s
I n t e r n a t i o n a l T r a d e F a i r
f o r A l u m i n i u m
a n d N o n - F e r r o u s M e t a l s ,
M a t e r i a l s , T e c h n o l o g i e s
a n d P r o d u c t s
T h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l
T u b e a n d P i p e
T r a d e F a i r i n R u s s i a
Messe Düsseldorf GmbH
P.O. Box 1010 06 _ 40001 Düsseldorf _ Germany
Tel. +49(0)211/45 60-7793 _ Fax +49(0)211/45 60-7740
Metallurgy 2013 87x260.indd 1
26.02.13 09:57
business & market news
Vallourec in long-
term collaboration
with Petrobras
Vallourec, a provider of premium tubular solutions, has
renewed its main frame agreement with Brazilian national oil
company Petrobras. Vallourec’s Brazilian subsidiary, V&M
do Brasil, and Petrobras have signed a five-year contract to
supply Petrobras’s operations with premium OCTG products,
including seamless pipes, steel grades and connections
using state-of-the art technology.
These products will be used for offshore oil and gas
exploration and production wells, including the huge reservoir
of the pre-salt fields. With proven reserves of up to 16 billion
barrels, pre-salt should represent about 30 per cent of
Petrobras’s production by 2020. The company is engaged in
one of the largest investment plans in the world, amounting to
US$236.5bn between 2012 and 2016, including US$141.8bn
for exploration and production, according to the business
plan announced by the company in 2012.
Philippe Crouzet, chairman of Vallourec’s management board,
declared, “The renewal of the main frame agreement with
Petrobras is an important step in our long-term collaboration,
dating back to 60 years. We are honoured to be trusted by
Petrobras, who is renowned for its technological excellence,
to supply our most advanced premium tubular solutions, and
support them with our best innovation capability in order to
tackle the unequalled challenges of the pre-salt exploitation.”
The Brazilian pre-salt fields combine several additional
challenges besides the salt layer itself: well depths up to
7,000m, ultra deepwater conditions with up to 2,000m
between surface and seabed, acid corrosion caused by H
2
S
and CO
2
contaminants, and a tendency toward high pressure/
high temperature conditions in certain areas. Associating all
these parameters together has an important impact on the
exploration models, and on the requirements for OCTG
material able to withstand such a combination of mechanical,
corrosive and thermal constraints.
Vallourec, through its sustained innovation capability, is
able to meet all these technological needs and will supply
Petrobras with advanced seamless pipes for sour service
using high alloyed material as well as the latest premium
connection, VAM
®
21.
Anticipating new demands for the pre-salt and growing
challenges in the still unexplored equatorial margins, Vallourec
will open a new R&D centre in the State of Rio de Janeiro this
year, located next to Petrobras’s CENPES research centre
in the Technological Park of Rio de Janeiro, and will expand
its current R&D facilities located in Belo Horizonte, Minas
Gerais.
Vallourec
– France
