Vallourec Niko Tube Joint Venture Reaches Design Capacity

Vallourec Niko Tube is a joint venture between the world leader in premium pipe products Vallourec and the Ukrainian industrial company INTERPIPE in a partnership announced in April 2018 to produce seamless pipes for the European market.

The production facilities of Vallourec Niko Tube are located in Nikopol and consist of two lines located in tube-rolling shops No.2 and No.7 of the INTERPIPE NIKO TUBE plant. The product portfolio of the joint venture includes line pipes, general-purpose pipes, and products for mechanical engineering.

As part of the partnership, INTERPIPE's area of ​​responsibility is the production and delivery of products to customers, while Vallourec controls the quality before shipment, deals with negotiations with customers and sales.

Interpipe carries out pipe rental at the facilities of Interpipe NIKO TUBE and Interpipe NTZ plants. Then they go through finishing and quality control at the finishing lines of the joint venture. The manufactured products are sold on the European market under the Vallourec brand. In November 2018, the joint venture produced the first pipes and shipped the first order.

Michael Diekenbrock has been appointed Managing Director of the joint venture, and Evgeny Dmitrenko, Production Director. The JV staff includes 122 production personnel. Some of these employees completed an internship at the German Vallourec factories in Dusseldorf and Mülheim (Germany).

Denis Morozov, Director for Economics and Finance, Interpipe:
- For Interpipe, the joint venture with Vallourec is a step forward in strengthening technical expertise and cooperation, reaching a new level in terms of product quality and increasing production volumes.

The partnership will allow Interpipe to increase production volumes, improve quality and services, and strengthen its position in the European market. In addition, we will receive additional technical expertise from one of the world's largest pipe manufacturers.

In turn, Vallourec complements its product portfolio for European consumers.