TPi March 2013

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.

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

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

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

25 – 28 June 2013

Krasnaya Presnya Moscow, Russia

www.metallurgy-tube-russia.com

in conjunction with:

RUSSIA ESSEN WELDING & CUTTING 2013

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 RyfischD@messe-duesseldorf.de www.messe-duesseldorf.de

Vallourec – France contact@vallourec.fr www.vallourec.com

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Tube Products International March 2013

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