Vallourec & Mannesmann Tubes Seamless hot-rolled steel tubes: a success factor

Seamless hot-rolled steel tubes: a success factor

In the floating roof at Schalke 04 football club’s stadium in Gelsenkirchen they ensure that everyone has a clear view of the pitch. They hold up the decks on the “Norwegian Pearl” luxury liner. And they transport oil in the Indian Mumbai High North oil field. Seamless hot-rolled tubes from Vallourec & Mannesmann Tubes are in demand in Germany and throughout the world. They are used in the oil and gas industries, in power station technology, in petrochemicals, in mechanical engineering and vehicle construction, and in steel construction and mining.

Vallourec & Mannesmann Tubes, which belongs to the Vallourec group and produces seamless hot-rolled steel tubes, is the world’s market leader in tube-based premium solutions, especially for the energy markets and other industrial applications. The company operates manufacturing facilities in Europe, Brazil, the USA and China, producing up to 3 million tonnes of seamless steel tubes each year. Vallourec & Mannesmann Tubes employs a total of 22,000 people working in over 20 different countries. The workforce includes several hundred R&D experts, who work at various research centres.

Growth course
Vallourec & Mannesmann Tubes has improved its international position even further in recent years. Since 2000 the Vallourec group has been developing its leading position in the Brazilian, US, African, Middle Eastern, Indonesian and Chinese markets, ensuring that it is present on the spot in those regions.

At the present time, the American Youngstown works is being expanded via the addition of a production facility for small-diameter tubes, which are used above all in shale gas extraction. At the end of 2012, a new plant is due to go into operation in Changzhou in China. During the course of 2011, a new steel and tubes works, Vallourec & Sumitomo Tubos do Brasil (VSB), started production in Jeceaba (Brazil), as a joint venture between the Vallourec group and Sumitomo Metals. With these investments, Vallourec & Mannesmann Tubes is further building up its international presence.

Vallourec & Mannesmann Tubes supplies tubes for the following applications:
- The oil and gas industries: drill pipes, threaded and unthreaded seamless tubes as casings or for oil and gas extraction; standard and premium connections; processed components made from seamless steel tubes; line pipes for onshore and offshore projects
- Power station technology: boiler tubes; internal diameter controlled processed tubes and tube components,; cold-drawn boiler tubes with internal profile;
cold-drawn feed-water heater tubes,;
- Chemicals and petrochemicals: line pipes
- Mechanical engineering and vehicle construction: alloyed and non-alloyed seamless tubes; mechanical tubings; tubes made from weldable fine-grain steels; steel structural hollow sections (MSH); mechanically processed tubes; axle tubes
- Steel construction/construction industry: steel structural hollow sections (MSH), used for example in hall, bridge and stadium building
- Mining: Tubes for mine props and cylinders; processed hollows for blind-end cylinders; tubes for freely suspended shaft pipes
- Semi-finished products (hollows): for oil field pipes, cold-drawn precision steel tubes, roller bearing tubes, tube connection components (fittings), steel flanges and other pressure vesselss

German roots
In Germany, Vallourec & Mannesmann Tubes operates a total of four production lines in Düsseldorf-Rath, Düsseldorf-Reisholz und Mülheim. The Düsseldorf-Rath tube works can look back on a long tradition. It was here that the Mannesmann brothers started producing seamless steel tubes as long ago as 1899. Today, Vallourec & Mannesmann Tubes still operates two production lines in Rath. The pilger mill and plugmill manufacture tailor-made tubes with outer diameters of between 178 and 711 mm. The Düsseldorf-Reisholz work’s drawing-press produces high-performance tubes with outer diameters of up to 1,500 mm. These are in demand throughout the world and are used mainly in power station construction. This facility also has a long tradition, and has been producing tubes since 1899. The continuous mill in Mülheim an der Ruhr, which has also been operating for decades, manufactures tubes in the 23.1 to 181.8 mm size range. In total, some 4,000 employees work in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia in the planning, production and distribution of steel tubes and hollows.

Press contacts:

Technical Press
Daniel Paschke
V & M DEUTSCHLAND GmbH
Theodorstr. 90
D-40472 Düsseldorf
email: Daniel.paschke@vmtubes.de
Phone: +49 211 960 – 37 91
Fax: +49 211 960 - 23 45
www.vmtubes.de

Corporate Press Germany
Friederike Gräfin v. Bassewitz
V & M DEUTSCHLAND GmbH
Theodorstr. 90
D-40472 Düsseldorf
email: Friederike.bassewitz@vmtubes.de
Phone: +49 211 960 – 2774
Fax: +49 211 960 - 2351
www.vmtubes.de

Corporate Press international
Caroline Philips
Vallourec Group
27 avenue du Général Leclerc
F-92660 Boulogne-Billancourt Cedex - France
Phone: +33 1 41 03 77 50
email: caroline.philips@vallourec.fr
www.vallourec.com