TPT May 2007

Industry News

The company has also announced the construction of an OCTG heat treatment facility adjacent to its Blytheville, Arkansas pipe mill. The new facility will produce heat treated OCTG in diameters of 2 3 / 8 " up to 5 1 / 2 ". Commercial production is expected to begin at the end of 2007, leading to an additional annual OCTG capacity of 100,000t. This large-scale expansion comes on the back of recent success for Ipsco. The company is a leader in the production of large diameter oil and gas transmission pipe, with technology developed at its Frontier Pipe Research Unit. In addition to the supply of all major oil and natural gas transmission companies, Ipsco supplied grade 80 linepipe to North America’s El Paso Cheyenne Plains Project in 2004, accounting for 306 miles of pipeline. Ipsco also supplied grade 100 linepipe to the TransCanada Stittsville project in August 2006. Both the steel and pipe for this cutting edge project were produced at the company’s facilities. Ipsco has the capability to produce these advanced grades of steel from its mills in Regina (Saskatchewan), Montpelier (Iowa), and Mobile (Alabama). As a leader in the North American market, Ipsco carefully monitors available gas transmission projects for large diameter pipe and invests where appropriate. The company believes that over the next few years the demand for such pipe will peak, with short term capacity heavily booked. The company currently has firm commitments for over 300,000t of large diameter linepipe which will require its mills to operate at capacity through to April 2008. Beyond that period Ipsco has firm options on over 500,000t of large diameter linepipe, which would commit part of its presently available capacity up to 2010. If available, the company expects to commit additional capacity from a proven source within the current peak cycle. Ipsco has also announced a 25 per cent increase in spiral mill capacity through the installation of a coil preparation line, to come on-stream in the second half of 2007. This expansion will add an additional 33 per cent capacity by early 2008, for a combined increase of 67 per cent.

Ipsco increases large diameter pipe capacity

Ipsco Inc, USA, will carry out a US$52.5mn expansion of its Regina large diameter pipe making facility. In combination with other current capacity increases, the company’s large diameter spiral pipe capacity is expected to increase by two thirds to 500,000t by early 2008. The company is a leading low cost producer of energy tubulars and steel plate in North America with an annual liquid steel

making capacity of 4.3 million tons. The company operates four steel mills, eleven pipe mills, nine product finishing facilities and nine scrap processing centres in 25 locations across the United States and Canada. The Regina expansion will include an additional pipe forming mill and related finishing equipment to increase the capacity and productivity of the existing facility.

Ipsco Inc – USA Fax : +1 630 810 4600 Website : www.ipsco.com

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M ay /J une 2007