by Ashleigh McGinley
Senaat has announced its portfolio company, Al Gharbia Pipe Company, has awarded Engineering Procurement & Construction (EPC) contracts to a consortium integrated by SMS Group and Larsen & Toubro.
Al Gharbia Pipe Company, a joint venture between Senaat (51%), and two of Japan’s leading companies in the steel sector, JFE Steel Corporation and Marubeni-Itochu Steel, is set to be the UAE’s first sour service capable, longitudinally welded steel pipe manufacturing plant.
With operations expected to formally launch in 2018, Al Gharbia Pipe Company’s production capacity is set to reach 240,000 tons annually, targeting the UAE market as well as neighbouring markets in the GCC and greater Middle East and East Africa.
Al Gharbia Pipe Company will manufacture and sell large diameter, high quality, sour grade Longitudinally Submerged Arc Welded (LSAW) steel pipes that cater chiefly to the oil and gas sector.
Jamal Salem Al Dhaheri, Senaat’s Acting CEO, said: “Senaat plays a key role in creating projects that contribute to the countries industrial diversification efforts. Al Gharbia Pipe Company was born out of that ambition.
“Ours and our partner’s vision for this project is driven by a growing global energy demand and will address the region’s increasing demand for world-class high-quality steel pipelines, increasingly sour oil and gas deposits and ever-more stringent product quality specifications, the demand of which is currently being satisfied through imported products from outside the region.”
He added: “Our commitement to strengthening Abu Dhabi’s industrial sector is being put in place through the award of the EPC contract.”
