TUBACEX HAS MADE INVESTMENTS AMOUNTING TO 52.30 MILLION EUROS IN 2010
Throughout 2010, TUBACEX has deployed investments in technical facilities and machinery amounting to 52.30 million euros, which were destined to the development of production capacity in those segments requiring a higher level of expertise and added value within the oil, gas and energy industries; such as the exploration and extraction of oil and gas in extreme conditions (offshore and deep water extraction), energy generation in state-of-the-art plants and nuclear power. This figure is the highest in the company’s history.
In the 2000-2010 period, the TUBACEX Group invested a total of 196.82 million euros in extending and improving its factory facilities, a figure which means an average annual investment of approximately 20 million euros. Between 2007 and 2010 the investments, basically linked to the implementation of the Strategic Plan, have amounted to 113.37 million euros, almost 30 million euros per annum.
Among the 2010 investments we must highlight the completion of the construction of a new facility in the Group’s plant located in Ternitz (Austria) for manufacturing umbilical offshore tubes, a product intended for supporting activities in the exploration and extraction of oil and gas in critical conditions of pressure, temperature and corrosion. This new plant, that began its construction in 2008, is now fully operational and has become the international technological benchmark for this type of facilities. The plant has overcome complex product certification and validation requirements and will begin supplying the markets in 2011.
Umbilical offshore tubes are used for controlling equipment on the seabed and for the injection of fluids or corrosion inhibitors. It is an extremely long welded product that is supplied in coils. Requirements of performance, quality and cleanliness are extreme in this product. TUBACEX fully relies on a very positive evolution of the demand for this product in the upcoming years as a consequence of the increasing trend to extract oil in deeper and more corrosive environments.
The Ternitz plant has also been doted with a new hot tube extrusion press, supplementing the current one. This press will feed into the cold tube rolling equipment for umbilicals.
These facilities will supplement the previous investment in a cold rolling mill for high-value products for the TTI factory in Amurrio, which specializes in tubes for drilling and pumping oil and gas (OCTG, Oil Country Tubular Goods) in special alloys. With this new investment, TUBACEX has increased its cold tube product portfolio, including large OCTG tubes.
To supplement this new product line, TUBACEX has developed improvements during 2010 in the finishing area of the TTI factory in Llodio. Additionally, the company has added two new ultrasound control machines in these facilities to improve quality assurance of the products.
The remaining investments are allocated towards diverse improvements linked to the efficiency of the key facilities in the manufacturing process of the different factories, to the maintenance and replacement of industrial equipment, quality improvement, raising the added value of products and environmental care.