Interpipe’s Niko Tube mill based in Nikopol, Ukraine, has gained pre-qualification from Dhahran-based Saudi Aramco, the world’s leading oil producing company to supply pipes to the company. The mill has been approved for inclusion in Saudi Aramco’s approved list of manufacturers.

Representatives of Aramco Overseas Company who visited Interpipe Niko Tube in October 2009 examined the mill’s quality management system and carried out a technical audit. The prequalification audit demonstrated that Interpipe’s Niko Tube mill meets the requirements of the international quality management system and Saudi Aramco’s requirements to pipe producing technologies and the international quality audit system.

Commenting on the pre-qualification results, Denis Solomin, director of tubular sales for the oil and gas industry at Interpipe, said: “Gaining status as an official supplier to Saudi Aramco is extremely positive and is the next step towards strengthening Interpipe’s profile in the Middle East. We are highly active in gaining pre-qualification approvals from the region’s leading oil companies. Interpipe has already been approved as an official supplier of KOC (Kuwait Oil Company) and Adnoc (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company).”

Interpipe’s turnover in 2008 was $1.96 billion. That year its output was 1.2 million tonnes of stel pipes and railway wheels. Its products were supplied to more than 80 countries in the world through a network of sales offices in Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Europe, the USA and the Middle East. Revenues derived from sales exports in 2008 constituted 75 per cent of the total sales volume.