voestalpine secures contract for pipeline project in Brazil

2014-07-07 |

After South Stream (1), the voestalpine Group has secured its second major pipeline contract this year. 120,000 tons of sour-gas-resistant, high-strength linepipe plates will be delivered for the third Petrobras pipeline in the world’s largest oilfield, near Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, by March 2015. This is a further example of voestalpine beating its global competitors in the hard-fought energy sector. Negotiations are also currently underway for extremely challenging pipeline projects in Russia (South Stream Pipeline 2), Mexico, and India.

After a planning and negotiation process lasting more than two years, voestalpine Grobblech GmbH has secured a further major contract in Brazil. The Rota 3 project will lay a deep-ocean pipeline near Rio de Janeiro at depths of up to 2,500 meters below sea level. Following the Tupi and Cabiunas projects, this is the third pipeline being laid in the Santos basin with our long-term Brazilian partner Tenaris Confab. Football’s 2014 World Cup host country has enabled voestalpine to score a hat trick in the pipeline business, winning through against competitors in Europe and Asia. The overall project customer is the Brazilian company Petrobras, one of the world’s largest energy companies with annual revenues of around USD 150 billion.

voestalpine will supply sour-gas-resistant, high-strength linepipe plates which meet the highest quality standards, delivering them between September 2014 and March 2015. Rota 3 is a 380-km pipeline connecting the natural gas and oil field in the Santos basin just off the coast of Rio de Janeiro with the Comberj refinery. At 132,000 tons, the 2012 forerunner project, Cabiunas, was the largest linepipe steel order in voestalpine’s history.

Third pipeline for the world’s largest oil field

Brazil is a country with one of the world’s largest oil reserves. Huge deposits were discovered just off the coast in 2007. The oil field in the Santos basin off the country’s south-eastern coast alone extends over 340,000 km2. It holds approximately eight billion barrels of crude oil, making it the world’s largest oil field. However, a majority of the reserves are at depths of up to 7,000 meters, subsumed under an immense layer of salt and rock. Other obstacles needing to be overcome include low water temperatures, the extremely high pressure, and heat generated by the oil and gas mixture as it flows out of the deposits. Consequently, premium steel grades, manufactured by the voestalpine Special Steel Division (Exploration) and voestalpine Grobblech GmbH (premium grade pipelines), are needed to extract and transport the oil.

voestalpine Grobblech

voestalpine Grobblech GmbH is a subsidiary of the voestalpine Steel Division. The company stands for heavy plate products and solutions that find their applications in high-quality and demanding market niches. voestalpine Grobblech GmbH is a supplier to the worldwide energy sector. The company supplies sour-gas-resistant linepipe plates and high-strength deep-ocean plates for pipeline construction, as well as thermomechanically rolled structural steels for offshore platforms. We are also Europe´s leading producer of roll-bonded clad plates and heads, and a premium supplier of high-strength and wear-resistant steels to the vehicle, crane, and mining industries.

The voestalpine Group

The voestalpine Group is a steel-based technology and capital goods group that operates worldwide. With around 500 Group companies and locations in more than 50 countries and on all five continents, the Group has been listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange since 1995. With its top-quality products, the Group is one of the leading partners to the automotive and consumer goods industries in Europe and to the oil and gas industries worldwide. The voestalpine Group is also the world market leader in turnout technology, special rails, tool steel, and special sections. In the business year 2013/14, the voestalpine Group reported revenue of EUR 11.2 billion and an operating result (EBITDA) of EUR 1.4 billion; it had around 48,100 employees worldwide.