Large Diameter Welded Steel Pipe and Plate Award for Sur de Texas –Tuxpan Project in Mexico

Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation (NSSMC), together with Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (Mitsui), have been awarded a 600,000 ton steel order consisting of large diameter welded steel pipe and plate as raw material for the pipeline from the consortium of TransCanada Corporation (TransCanada) and IEnova, Infraestructura Marina del Golfo (IMG), which has been chosen to build, own and operate(BOO(1)) , approximately 780km natural gas pipeline that will begin offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, at the border point near Brownsville, Texas and end in Tuxpan, in the state of Veracruz, Mexico.

1.Scope of Order:

2.Project Description:
This project will transport natural gas from Texas, across the border to Tuxpan, Veracruz the middle of Mexico. The project will supply natural gas to power generation plants in multiple regions of the country. The pipeline is expected to be in service in late 2018.

3.Background of the Award:
The potential BOO for this project was required to submit bids adhering to a rule required half of the pipe length to be sourced from domestic suppliers. Once TransCanada was awarded the BOO contractor, NSSMC, Tubacero and Mitsui were selected to supply large diameter welded steel pipe from NSSMC including the supply of thick plate to Tubacero. The ability of NSSMC to expedite the delivery timing by using both Kashima and Kimitsu mills, the abundant supply record of thick gauge large diameter steel pipe with heavy wall thickness for offshore projects and the ability to supply thick plate to Tubacero led to this successful order.

(1)BOO: Means Build Own Operate and is an abbreviation for the entity that will construct and operate the pipeline.