NEW YORK — Vallourec SA expects to produce 200,000 tonnes of small-diameter oil country tubular goods (OCTG) at its new mill in Youngstown, Ohio, this year.

"For additional tonnage for 2013, we are pretty much in line with our announced ramp-up for the two mills, and we confirmed the volumes for VSB (Vallourec & Sumitomo Tubos do Brasil Ltda.) of 120,000 to 150,000 tonnes, and for V&M (in Youngstown) it’s an additional 200,000 tonnes that we have in our schedule for this year," chief operating officer Jean-Pierre Michel said during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call.

The full annual capacity of the Youngstown mill is 350,000 tonnes of seamless pipe.

A recent OCTG price increase by Houston-based subsidiary Vallourec & Mannesmann USA Corp. (amm.com, Feb. 19) will only be effective for spot tonnages, with most of the company’s first-half deliveries already committed under frame contracts, the company said.

"On these small volumes, we were planning to increase prices on limited volumes for the second quarter," Didier Hornet, managing director of the company’s OCTG division, said during the call, adding that it was "a bit early to tell" whether the increase might lead to higher prices for frame contract deliveries in the second half.

In terms of end markets, the company believes U.S. drill rigs are at their lowest point for the year, according to Hornet.