Mar 29 2005
IPSCO Inc. has announced that it is installing state of the art high speed Oil Country Tubular Goods finishing lines at its Blytheville, Arkansas pipe mill. “This investment is part of IPSCO’s overall strategy to continue to build a strong position in energy tubular product markets and to add value through further processing of its steel products,” said Joe Russo, Senior Vice President of the Company.
These facilities will have the capability to upset, thread and couple 175,000 tons of OCTG products in the 1.9” to 4.5” diameter range produced by IPSCO’s Blytheville facility and will produce commercial product by the end of this year.
“The Blytheville pipe mill has fulfilled its objective to be an industry leading, high productivity pipe mill and these new finishing facilities will better serve our customers through improved internal quality control and more responsive delivery,” said Joe Russo. Products from the Blytheville facility complement the Company’s production of energy and industrial tubular products from its Camanche, Iowa and Canadian pipe mills.
IPSCO operates steel mills at three locations and pipe mills at six locations in Canada and the United States. As a low cost North American steel producer, IPSCO has a combined annual steel making capacity of 3,500,000 tons. The Company's tubular facilities produce a wide range of tubular products including line pipe, oil and gas well casing and tubing, standard pipe and hollow structurals, for a combined annual capacity of 1,775,000 tons. Steel can also be further processed at IPSCO's five temper leveling and coil processing facilities.
This news release contains forward-looking information with respect to IPSCO's operations and beliefs. Actual results may differ from these forward-looking statements due to numerous factors, including, but not limited to, weather conditions affecting the oil patch, drilling rig availability, demand for oil and gas, supply, demand and price for scrap metal and other raw materials, supply, demand and price for electricity and natural gas, demand and prices for products produced by the Company, general economic conditions and changes in financial markets. These and other factors are outlined in IPSCO's regulatory filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and Canadian securities regulators, including those in IPSCO's Annual Report for 2003, its MD&A, particularly as discussed under the heading "Business Risks and Uncertainties", and its Form 40-F.
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