United Metallurgical Company (OMK) is a leading Russian manufacturer of steel pipes for the offshore industry.
OMK produces steel pipes, pipeline valves and fittings, railway wheels and automotive springs.
Oil and gas pipeline services
The company’s strategic partners are leading Russian and international oil and gas, transportation and engineering companies such as Gazprom, Russian Railways, Lukoil, Surgutneftegaz, Sibur, ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch/Shell, General Electric, Samsung, Kamaz, GAZ and MAZ. OMK’s products are shipped to 20 countries worldwide.
Since being established, OMK has continued to implement its chosen strategy of long-term expansion, improving efficiency and strengthening the company’s position in the industry and on the market.
The objective is to become the key supplier of integrated solutions for the oil and gas industry and the most efficient metals company in Russia. The chosen model is based on the development of state-of-the-art products, including import-substitution products, which meet customers’ most stringent requirements, both current and future.
Large-diameter pipes for offshore projects
OMK’s large-diameter pipe (LDP) division includes a modern heavy plate mill HPM-5000 and the pipe anti-corrosion coating application facility. The shop operates two mills, Electric Resistance Welded (ERW) Pipe Mill 1020 and ERW Pipe Mill 1420. These mills produce pipe between 1,020mm and 1,420mm in diameter, with a wall thickness of up to 48mm. The facility’s capacity is as much as two million tonnes of large-diameter pipe a year. Due to high quality and timely orders execution, the company’s pipes are used in the construction of major oil and gas pipelines.
OMK has delivered LDPs for projects such as the Baltic Pipeline System, the Sakhalin-1 and Sakhalin 2 Projects, the North European Pipeline, the Eastern Siberia-Pacific Pipeline and the Power of Siberia Pipeline System. The company’s pipe mill was the first in the country to develop the capability to make pipe for underwater pipelines according to the strict international Det Norske Veritas (DNV) standard.
As a result, in 2007, OMK became the only Russian producer to be trusted with LDP delivery for the construction of the challenging Nord Stream underwater gas pipeline from Russia to Germany along the Baltic Sea bed. In 2016, the company was granted the privilege of delivering 730km of large-diameter pipe for the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline under a contract signed between OMK and Nord Stream 2 AG. That order became the largest spot pipe contract in OMK history.
Investments in pipe production facilities
In recent years, OMK has worked to further develop pipe production facilities. OMK has invested over $6bn in facility upgrades, with over $3bn invested in the last ten years. Most of the money has been invested in Vyksa Steel Works plant in Central Russia. This is where Russia’s first line to make 1,420mm Longitudinally Submerged Arc Welding (LSAW) pipe was commissioned (2005), as well as an integrated casting and rolling facility (2008) and Wide Plate Mill-5000 (2011).
Currently, OMK is investing record amounts in pipe production facilities, with over $2.5bn in upgrades planned. Based on the investment programme, OMK is expecting to improve its competitive standing, focus on making technologically advanced products and achieve leadership in product quality and manufacturing cost.
In particular, a project to upgrade line pipe production launched in 2016, is at the height of activity. The project will upgrade all existing lines to make oil country tubular goods (OCTG) pipe and expand the line of electrically welded pipe for well construction by making pipe in the range from 139.7mm to 426mm and acquiring the capability for tubing.
About OMK
OMK consists of five large metallurgical enterprises throughout Central Russia between Moscow and the Urals: Vyksa Steel Works (Nizhny Novgorod region), Almetyevsk Pipe Plant (Republic of Tatarstan), Chusovoy Metallurgical Works (Perm region), Trubodetal (Chelyabinsk region) and Blagoveshchensk Valves Plant (Republic of Bashkortostan).
