Tenaris Don’t believe the hype, $1.6-billion pipe mill is still on track

Dec 27, 2008 | 07:00 PM |

Some folks in the pipe and tube business have been abuzz with gossip that Tenaris SA backing off a planned $1.6 billion small-diameter seamless pipe mill project in Veracruz, Mexico.

Perspectives loves to hear market chatter, especially when it concerns plans with billion-dollar-plus price tags. But it appears that the latest grist to make its way through the rumor mill is, well, just rumor.

We contacted Luxembourg-based Tenaris and its parent company Techint Group and were told by both that talk suggesting a possible postponement or cancellation of the project was groundless. "We have confirmed the investment in the new TenarisTamsa rolling mill," Techint said in a brief e-mailed statement to Perspectives.

Techint owns Mexican pipe and tube maker Tubos de Acero de Mexico SA (Tamsa), which forms part of the Tenaris Global Services USA group (AMM, May 20, 2005).

The Veracruz project is going ahead as planned and is scheduled to start production by the end of 2010, a source at Tenaris said. Perspectives asked whether Tenaris was putting any other projects on hold. "This is a difficult question," the source said. "We have many, many things. But the most important is the Tamsa one, and that is confirmed."....