11.10.2005
VÍTKOVICE STEEL is a traditional supplier of plates for the power generation sector. Since 2004 this Ostrava-based steel company has been able to place its products from higher quality grades to another interesting sector in the power industry, i.e., to transportation of energy media like crude oil, natural gas, and others.
Production these high grade plates which are designed e.g. for longitudinally welded pipes for line pipes and gas lines must meet stringent criteria of the certification agency API standard and also of the demanding quality system – it requires absolute precision in all production stages and a precise control system. In the Czech Republic these special hot rolled plates are produced and supplied only by one steel company, i.e., by VÍTKOVICE STEEL, who is a certified supplier of plates for the petroleum industry.
„Our objective is to permanently produce plates for pipe lines in the required high quality and to include these products to the current portfolio of products made by VÍTKOVICE STEEL,“ explained Vladimír Bail, Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of VÍTKOVICE STEEL. „Last year the share of these products represented 2 % of the total plate production of our company, this year we will increase this share to approx. 11 % and in 2006 we expect an increase by another 6-8 %,“ added Bail.
A pilot project in this special field was a job order for a supply of 13 thousand tons of plates for line pipes for an Egyptian company IPIC, which was realized in 2004. Another important job order was a reference supply of 500 tons of plates for the Near East. On the basis of the aforementioned reference order the client concluded a contract with VÍTKOVICE STEEL for supply of total of 75.5 thousand tons of special plates for line pipes produced this year which is a year marked by a softening of the several-year-long significant boom in the steel industry. And it is exactly the gradually increasing volume of production of special plates for such products like line pipes which will partially fill up the space created by the starting recession in other production areas.
The current situation on the pipe line plates market and the forecasts of the analysts indicate that the consumption and demand for special plates for line pipes will be growing for several more years – high prices of crude oil motivate petroleum companies to seek new extraction sites and built oil pipe lines and gas lines. The latest forecasts referring to the consumption of European plates forecast that in 2005 the market will grow by 5.7 % and it is estimated that the volume of line pipes realized in 2006 will be by 1 400 km higher than in 2005 (of this 400 km in Europe). The information mentioned above confirms the strategic plans of VÍTKOVICE STEEL, which produces plates for line pipes mostly in a length of 12 meters and in various thickness gages from approx. 8 to 22mm. „European steel plants produce mainly common steel grades that are used in the countries with an ongoing industrialization like China, India and other countries,“ said Doc. Ing. Zdeněk Toman, CSc., Vice-Dean of the Technical University in Ostrava when commenting on the current situation on the steel market. „But personally I think that the future for European steel is in supplies of steel with higher quality as produced for example by VS,“ added Toman.
The certificate from the American Petroleum Institute (API), which opened the way to the customers from renown companies – suppliers of oil pipe lines and gas lines, was awarded to VÍTKOVICE STEEL at the beginning of 2004 after demanding inspections. However, a precondition for maintaining the certificate is annual inspection by API which was established in Washington, D.C. and currently represents more than 400 entities active in the petroleum and natural gas industry. VÍTKOVICE STEEL, a. s., passed this inspection even in 2005 and so the monogram API license was prolonged and this license together with the product certificates and the certificates QMS as per ISO 9001 and EMS as per ISO 14 001 enables production of high quality plates. The company has the management system certified by two independent global companies, i.e., RW TÜV and American API, which according to experts is an important reference.
