Thursday 21 April 2016

voestalpine has secured a major new contract in the ongoing economically challenging oil and gas industry for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project between Europe and Russia. After having supplied 170,000 tonnes highest-quality linepipe plates for the first part of the offshore gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea between 2008 and 2010, the Group will now produce several hundred thousand tonnes for Nord Stream 2. The order quantities significantly exceeded expectations, which makes this order the largest one won by voestalpine Grobblech GmbH in the company's history.

Nord Stream is a 1,200 km offshore pipeline transporting natural gas from the Yuzhno-Russkoye natural gas field and neighbouring fields in Siberia via the Baltic Sea to Germany. As such, it plays a major role in securing Europe’s access to natural gas supplies. Between 2008 and 2010, voestalpine Grobblech GmbH, a company belonging to the voestalpine Group’s Steel Division, via its partner OMK, a Russian pipeline specialist and long-term voestalpine partner, supplied 170,000 tonnes of highest-quality linepipe plates for two Nord Stream lines which were completed in 2012.

As this pipeline is running almost at full capacity, having transported around 40 billion cubic meters of gas to the EU through both lines in 2015, construction of Nord Stream 2 with two further pipelines is to go ahead. With the biggest contract in its history voestalpine Grobblech GmbH has now secured the supply for several hundred thousand tonnes of special plate for these pipelines, which will again be handled together with strategic partner OMK between August 2016 and February 2018. OMK has most recently won 33 percent of the total order volume for Nord Stream 2 in a tender issued by the operating company.