Voestalpine to supply pipeline material for Nord Stream 2

Austria’s Voestalpine has said it has secured a major contract supporting the construction of the the Gazprom-run Nord Stream 2 pipeline project between Europe and Russia.

The Austrian company supplied 170,000 tonnes linepipe plates for the first part of the offshore gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea between 2008 and 2010. Under the new contract, the group will 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, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

Nord Stream is a 1,200 km offshore pipeline transporting natural gas from the Yuzhno-Russkoye natural gas field and neighboring fields in Siberia via the Baltic Sea to Germany 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 linepipe plates for two Nord Stream lines which were completed in 2012.

As part of the new order 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.

According to Voestalpine, OMK has most recently won 33 percent of the total order volume for Nord Stream 2 in a tender issued by the operating company.

“In view of today’s highly competitive market environment for investment in the oil and gas industry, this major contract is extremely welcome,” says Herbert Eibensteiner, the Member of the Management Board of Voestalpine AG responsible for the Steel Division. “It proves once again that Voestalpine is seen as a reliable partner when it comes to highest-quality special products for technologically demanding pipeline projects.”