CHTPZ Group boosts pipe sales 35% in 5 mths
YEKATERINBURG. June 29 (Interfax) - The ChTPZ Group saw pipe shipments soar 35% year-on-year in January-May to 595,500 tonnes as the market for oil and gas pipeline tubes picked up and the economic situation in Russia stabilized, the Group said in a statement.
The Group's Chelyabinsk Pipe Rolling Plant (ChTPZ) sold 325,800 tonnes of pipes, up 43.4% year-on-year, including 228,800 tonnes of large-diameter pipes, up 65.8%; and its Pervouralsk Novotrubny Pipe Works (PNTZ) from the Sverdlovsk region sold 269,700 tonnes, up 26.2%.
The Group shipped 50,800 tonnes of pipes for Transneft's Baltic Pipeline System-2 and 13,800 tonnes for the Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean-2 (ESPO-2) projects in the five months.
The Chelyabinsk plant's May sales rose 67% year-on-year to 58,200 tonnes, including 43,000 tonnes of large-diameter pipes, up 68.6%. PNTZ boosted May sales 47% year-on-year to 63,100 tonnes.
Pipe shipments plummeted 23% in 2009 to 1.131 million tonnes, although ChTPZ has said it expects sales, which started to pick up considerably in December, to go on rising this year as it meets major orders for pipeline tubes and puts new capacity on line.
ChTPZ Group unites companies specializing in the ferrous metallurgy sector. It consists of the Chelyabinsk and Pervouralsk pipe mills as well as ChTPZ-Meta, a company specializing in scrap metal collection and processing; metal trading company Uraltrubostal Trading House; and oil industry services provider Rimera. Arkley Capital S.a r.l., Luxembourg, manages ChTPZ Group's assets.