Having won a contract for the supply of piling pipes for a major bridge project in Abu Dhabi, the Korean-Qatari joint venture Hyojong Industrial Company is eyeing the supply of similar pipes for one of the longest causeways in the world set to link Bahrain with Qatar.

Apart from these projects, the company has kept its production line busy having secured other major projects for the supply of steel pipes. These involve: the manufacture and supply of spool pipes and fabrication of joints and bends for the Ras Laffan Refinery project under a joint venture with Daewoo; supply of cooling pipes for Al Khaleej project; export of general steel pipes to the UAE; supply of piling pipes for a number of smaller projects in Doha; and the supply of steel saddles for Ras Laffan Phase 2 under a $25 million contract.
Established in 1981 in Korea, Hyojong came to Qatar in 2002 and set up its now 250,000 sq m factory at Ras Laffan Industrial City. Certified by API (American Petroleum Institute), the company has received the ISO 9001 certification for manufacturing submerged arc welded spiral pipes made of carbon steel.
In December 2004, Hyojong merged with the Qatar Promotion Board, becoming one of the largest private sector companies in Qatar. A 75-25 Qatari-Korean joint venture, the QR300-million ($82.5 million) company employs some 300 staff at five factories within the Ras Laffan Industrial City (RLC).
“Hyojong Industrial is a unique manufacturer of steel pipes for the oil, gas and water industries,” says board member Yousef bin Ahmed Al Kuwari. “One of the largest private sector companies in Qatar, the company has been focusing on achieving excellence through introducing new technology and quality.”
The company has also accomplished the feat of manufacturing the largest steel pipe in the world. The 18-m-long spiral carbon pipe, with a 3.4 m diameter, was produced for the RasGas LNG trains 6 and 7 projects. The pipe, which is used as an integral part of the LNG cooling system, has made Qatar the first in the world to use such massive pipes for cooling systems.
“It is believed that this size of pipe will aid in the future development of the cooling capacity of RLC, helping factories there to produce higher capacities with less cost by building bigger single plants rather than several smaller ones,” Al Kuwari concludes.