Severstal’s Business development manager for energy D. Goroshkov said:
- Severstal’s Izhora pipe mill won a contract in July to supply Gazprom with 320,000 tonnes of large-diameter pipelines during 2021-22.
- A slowdown in Russia in 2019-20 drove Severstal to consider new horizons,
- In 2019, we started intensively searching for opportunities internationally,
- Severstal expects to fully utilise its equipment in 2021.
- How much will Gazprom want in 2021? The aim for international markets is to be able to balance out the domestic market with the international.
- Before 2019, demand for large-diameter pipelines in Russia was very significant and we enjoyed 100% capacity utilisation,
- Gazprom was the company’s major client?
- The state-controlled gas company changed its investment plans, triggering Severstal’s decision to expand internationally.
- Severstal has 3 key advantages over other pipeline manufacturers,
- The company is vertically integrated, it is wholly responsible for customer satisfaction and it is working to develop new products to meet emerging needs.
- Gazprom has a number of significant projects, including the continuation of the Power of Siberia, also Rosneft has Vostok Oil work.
- The executive was confident that Severstal’s ability to provide large-diameter pipelines would continue to give it a competitive edge.
- The company has begun looking at the use of non-metallic materials, an emerging trend in the Middle East. Demand in this area is focused at the moment on small and middle diameter pipelines.
