Interviews and articles
Ukraine's Interpipe signs contract with Italian co to build modern electric steel making facility
Investment in excess of $610m for state of the art facility in Dnepropetrovsk
Leading steel company INTERPIPE, signed a major new contract yesterday with Italian company Danieli to build a state of the art electric steel making facility. When completed, it will be the largest facility of its
kind in the Ukraine and Western Europe.
The contract was signed today in Kiev at a ceremony attended by INTERPIPE's founder, Viktor Pinchuk, and senior management from both participating companies. The new facility represents an investment in excess of $610 million and will be capable of producing 1.32 million tons of round billets and blooms per annum, providing INTERPIPE's manufacturing mills with high quality steel for the company's pipes and wheels.
The site of the new mill is within the grounds of the company's largest existing mill in Dnepropetrovsk, the Niznedneprovsky Tube Rolling Plant (NTRP). Construction will start in 3-5 months.
Commenting on the project, Alexandr Kirichko, Managing Director at INTERPIPE said: "This electric steel making facility will provide the company with its own resource base, as well as enhance quality control
at each stage of the production chain. This cutting-edge facility will allow considerable reductions in gas
consumption (8 times less than the current rate) and overall emissions (2.5 times less). This project will also create 500 new jobs for the local community. Most importantly, however, we will be in a position to provide our customers around the world with better products more efficiently."
From Danieli, Gianpetro Benedetti, Chairman and CEO said: "We at Danieli, have extensive experience building these 'mini mills' for mining and smelting complexes, and are delighted to be awarded this
prestigious contract by INTERPIPE. Danieli will be managing the construction as a turnkey project, including all the technological production, the auxiliary plants and services, along with the all of the infrastructure, civil works and support buildings. This facility will be the first of its kind in the Ukraine, which is very exciting for both Danieli and INTERPIPE."
Viktor Pinchuk, Founder of Interpipe also added: "The future of Ukrainian industry is not just about modernizing existing mills and factories - many of which were built over 50 to 100 years ago - we also
need to invest in new, high technology manufacturing facilities. Through working with partners like Danieli on projects such as this, I am very pleased to see that we are making a significant step forward in the
building of a modern industrial infrastructure for Ukraine in the 21st century."
Background and technical information on the new facility
The new Meltshop will feature all the latest Danieli technologies and high-tech equipment available in steelmaking and casting: 160-ton twin shell, inert roof-type LF and a double-tank VD equipped with a 4 stages
400kg/h steam ejector vacuum pump.
Split-shell FastArc AC EAF will operate based on 100% scrap and will be equipped with the latest technology in chemical energy injection and HIREG electrode digital regulation system, for enhanced furnace operation and for
energy consumption optimisation.
One four-strand FastCast bloom caster and one five-strand billet caster will be equipped with the latest generation of tundish and mould design, hydraulic oscillators and all means to enable high-speed casting of o 150mm
to o 470mm quality round billets and blooms.
The meltshop will include all auxiliary plants and equipment, including material handling system, fume dedusting plant and cranes. Danieli Automation will supply all electrical systems and advanced, fully integrated
automation system for the entire plant, including Level 3 for Planning, Production Progress Control and Quality Management, Scheduling, Data Warehouse and Stokyard Management.
Background information on INTERPIPE
INTERPIPE is a global producer of steel pipes and wheels, one of the fastest growing producers in Eastern and Central Europe. With sales in excess of $1.5bn, INTERPIPE produces 4.3 per cent of the world's seamless pipes and 12.8 per cent of railway wheels.
The company employs 16,000 people at four high quality production mills (the four largest tubular mills in Ukraine: INTERPIPE NTRP, INTERPIPE NIKO TUBE, INTERPIPE NTK, INTERPIPE NMPP), which between them produce more than 1.4 million tons of steel products annually. INTERPIPE has a rapidly growing global business in 76 countries around the world.
Background information on Danieli
DANIELI designs, manufactures and installs competitive plants and equipment for the steel and industry worldwide. The annual turnover of the company is EUR 2bn., of which over 98% is export related business. The company employs over 5,000 people operating in 18 product lines.
The main products of the company are: Minimills - Integrated steelmaking plants - Direct Reduction Plants - Electric steel meltshops - Continuous casting plants and rolling mills for long and flat products - Strip
processing lines - Tube processing plants - Forging shops - Conditioning lines - Cold drawing lines - Extrusion plants - Automation and process control systems - Technical assistance and spare parts.
