Zamil Group, one of Saudi Arabia's most prominent industrial groups, inaugurated Saudi Seamless Pipes Factory Company (Zamil Pipes), an API 5CT new seamless pipes processing facility in Dammam Second Industrial City, on Monday under the patronage of Engineer Khaled A. Al-Faleh, Saudi Aramco president and CEO. The ceremony was attended by a host of senior Aramco executives, government officials, foreign and local businessmen. Zamil Pipes is an ISO 9001:2008 limited liability company, founded in 2007 as a member of Zamil Group to be Saudi's first processor and end-finisher of oil countries tubular goods used as casings under one roof. The 30-hectare facility is designed to process full size OCTG casings up to 13 3/8” with a production capacity of 200,000 tons per year. Ranges of grades vary from a simple J55 up to Q125. Hydrostatic testing size limits are from 2 ¼” up to 20”. The SR575 million project offers employment for 200 people at full capacity and is planned to serve Saudi Aramco primarily as well as other regional oil companies. The processing and finishing steps are: heat treating, quenching, hydrostatic and non-destructive testing, threading and box-end hydrostatic testing. Zamil Pipes shall provide supply chain solution including tubular repair, tubular inspection, tubular maintenance, tubular reconditioning, warehousing and inventory management. “With this pioneering project, we aim to provide our national oil company with a high added value service using world class equipment and technologies. The project will allow us to transfer technical know-how and develop high competency in these vital technologies used in oil and gas - adding to the Kingdom's economic strength,” said Engineer Khalid Al Zamil, chairman of Zamil Pipes. “Carefully attending to quality requirements and localizing this technology is our primary objective. We will grow our services to produce broader size ranges and expand our capacity,” said Dr. Fadi Jardali, president of Zamil Pipes. The heat treating process significantly enhances the microstructure. Laboratory analysis is further carried out to confirm the product quality as per API requirements. Non- destructive testing utilizing Tuboscope's technology and equipment is conducted in by Tuboscope's inspectors. Pipe threading is conducted using high precision CNC lathes to cut API and premium threads via 2 fully automated lines. This is followed by a series of thread quality inspection steps, pipe-end phosphating, couplings fitting, end drift, box-end hydrostatic testing, pipe weighing, measuring, marking, stenciling, and coating as per API 5CT code and packing of finished goods in bundles. Zamil Pipes has an exclusive license from Voestalpine Tubulars GmbH & Co. KG, Austria, to cut VAGT premium threads on a various sizes which would be extended to other premium VA series currently used in Europe for gas applications. As a main project feature, the processing capability would allow storing a minimum inventory of upgradable pipes which can be transformed by heat treating to the various specific grades.
