NEW YORK — OAO TMK expects its first-quarter results to mirror weak fourth-quarter numbers, partly due to a challenging U.S. drilling environment, the company said.

TMK, parent of Downers Grove, Ill.-based tube and pipe maker TMK Ipsco, recorded 2012 net income of $282.1 million, down 26.7 percent from $384.7 million the previous year, on revenue that fell nearly 1 percent to $6.69 billion.

The Moscow-based company expects its 2013 results to be similar to those of last year, "with some upside" as the second half of 2013 will likely outpace the first, it said.

Meanwhile, TMK’s fourth-quarter net income fell 53.6 percent compared with the third quarter to $32 million despite revenue that rose 0.9 percent to $1.63 billion.

The Russian steelmaker’s Americas division saw revenue fall 14.1 percent quarter on quarter to $352 million due to lower prices for both welded and seamless products. That, in turn, was the result of year-end inventory adjustments and a declining rig count.

However, the Americas division’s full-year revenue grew nearly 4 percent due to higher sales of welded oil country tubular goods (OCTG) and line pipe.

Meanwhile, the company’s sales volumes grew 1.3 percent to nearly 4.24 million tonnes amid increased shipments for welded and seamless OCTG products. This was offset by a sharp drop in large-diameter pipe sales, which occurred because several major pipeline projects were completed and others were postponed, the company said.

TMK’s shipments for the quarter rose 3 percent sequentially to 1.08 million tonnes, the company said.