Vallourec: A strategic partnership for pipeline welding

Oil & gas, Welding solutions
Serimax and Technip to enter into a strategic partnership for pipeline welding.

Jan 11, 2016  + + +  Serimax, a Vallourec subsidiary, a world leader in offshore & onshore welding solutions, and Technip, a world leader in project management, engineering and construction for the energy industry, signed today an agreement in principle in order to achieve a strategic partnership in the domain of pipeline welding. In this respect, Technip, a long-lasting customer of Serimax, would acquire a minority stake in Serimax.

Technip and Serimax will combine their expertise and will deploy the Serimax welding technology at Technip’s spoolbases(1) and S-lay(2) ?vessels.

This will allow both partners to:
»   offer high end competitive capabilities to address operators’ capital investment constraints for future projects;
»   invest in joint R&D programs and innovative reel-lay welding solutions to meet the growing technical challenges of projects;
»   increase operational performance through enhanced productivity, improved scheduling and higher integration of the value chain.

This strategic partnership, which is subject to regulatory approvals, will include exclusive arrangements in the Reel-lay welding(3) pipeline segment as well as research and development (R&D) related programs.

Serimax will remain an independent service and technology provider, and will continue to serve its clients in the offshore, onshore pipeline and fabrication markets.

Frederic Castrec, Managing Director for Serimax commented: “We are delighted Technip has the confidence in and has selected Serimax, to further support their future project developments. It is a clear recognition of Serimax’s capability. Together, we can combine our respective areas of expertise to develop an integrated technical and commercial solution.”

Hallvard Hasselknippe, President Subsea, Technip commented: “Serimax is recognized for its experience in major international line pipe projects, with a reputation for quality, service and innovation and a strong commitment to R&D. Combining our domains of expertise, we believe that Serimax’s deployment on our spoolbases and S-lay vessels will enable us to offer to our clients a harmonized solution with greater operational repeatability. This partnership is part of Technip’s strategic focus on technology, a key differentiator to contribute to costs optimization on projects.”

Didier Hornet, Senior Vice President Eastern Hemisphere, who is responsible for Vallourec's oil and gas strategy, said: “Technip and Serimax have a longstanding relationship and this is a strategic move we have endorsed, in keeping with optimizing on the strengths of the organizations. We are confident that combining both company’s technologies will make a real difference to the market and offers greater opportunities to think differently about how we package solutions for clients. Delivering solutions to the oil and gas market require companies that are agile and capable of growing together to meet market expectations.”

Source: Vallourec

(1)A spoolbase is primarily used for the fabrication and spooling of rigid pipe onto vessels with Reel-lay capability. Technip owns and operates four rigid pipe spoolbase ?facilities located close to clients' deepwater developments.

(2)S-lay refers to a pipeline laying method for which all assembly activity of the pipe is done onboard the vessel and laid simultaneously offshore.

(3)Reel-lay refers to a pipeline laying method for which the pipes are assembled in an onshore spoolbase and then spooled onto reels on vessels or at quay side. The pipe is then unspooled from reels during offshore activities.?