Workers of Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant’s OCTG shop are currently busy upgrading their Bracker hydraulic press meant for testing pipes under pressure. This upgrading project is part of the company’s investment program for 2008, for which 27.8 million RUR have been provided, the spokesperson for ChTPZ Group (which Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant is a member of) reported to UrBC.

The upgrading project is to be implemented in two stages. First, a new hydraulic power station will be installed and launched, and then the high-pressure units will be replaced in order to avoid any hydraulic impact during the testing procedures and to enhance the equipment’s reliability and efficiency. As a result, the plant will be able to test its pipes under greater pressure and thus expand the range of products it offers due to manufacturing higher durability tubes and pipes.

Renovating the plant’s Bracker hydraulic press is part of a larger overhaul project involving the OCTG shop’s pipe-threading facility. The overhaul is expected to restore the original working capacity of all the mechanical, electro-technical, and power-generating equipment and will probably take fifteen days.

Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant’s tubing enjoys good demand among O&G enterprises; the plant’s key customers are LUKoil, TNK-BP, Surgutneftegaz, Rosneft, Gazprom, and Tatneft. Last year, the enterprise produced 110,200 tons of oil country tubular goods; 59,200 tons were manufactured in the first half of 2008.