Saudi Steel Pipe (SSP) Company is to begin commercial production of API 5L line pipe at its new state-of-the-art production facility this month.

"The company is excited about soon having an opportunity to showcase this new product and process which will be unique in the Middle East," says a company spokesman.

"The mill was designed and engineered with the technical assistance of DMS of France. At the heart of the system is a solid state high-frequency induction welding system provided by Elva Induksjon of Norway. A wide spectrum of critical operating variables will be monitored on a real time basis as a means of controlling the process to achieve the highest reliability and predictability of welding integrity," he says.

"The new mill, with its continuous end-to-end coil welding and a 200-tonne coil accumulator, will effectively eliminate the many problems inherent in a traditional start/stop, coil by coil, welded pipe operation. A sophisticated coil edge milling operation will provide perfectly engineered coil edges for highest reliability at weld interface during this continuous run," says the spokesman.

"Decision made on every component of the project, from the selection of computerised cage roll-forming, ultrasonic inline/offline NDT (non-destructive testing) and the industry's best seam annealing system, was carefully studied with the goal of providing customers the industry's most reliable pipe product. Though the primary target market for the products of this new facility is the region's oil and gas industry, it is expected that the mill will also meet and exceed the demands of ASTM A53 (grades A and B) and BS1387 in a wide variety of water, well casing, structural, commercial, piling and construction applications," he says.

The company has enjoyed steady growth since its startup in 1981 as one of Saudi Arabia's most successful manufacturer of high-quality welded steel pipe.

"Careful study of the available technologies led SSP to select a solid state HFI welding technology for the manufacture of 80,000 tonnes per year of 4"-16" product across the full range of API grades and wall thicknesses," says the spokesman.

The move to API and equivalent industry standards is seen as a natural progression by the company, the spokesman says.