An Indo-German venture promoted by the $US500 million Welspun Group, Welspun Gujarat has some of the most hi-tech pipe engineering machinery sourced from Mannesmann Demag in Germany. It incorporates the very best of pipe manufacturing technology, starting with a hybrid JCO press, a recent development from Mannesmann. Unlike conventional JCO presses, Welspun’s hybrid JCO press is very versatile in terms of pipe size range (16 – 60 in. outer diameter with a maximum possible wall thickness of 65 mm). It also performs at high speed, making it an ideal choice for large cross-country pipeline projects.

The mill boasts some of the best pipemaking equipment such as the UT systems from Kraut Krammer, a 12 metre single boom mechanical expander from Mannesmann, hydro tester from Stahler and welding lines from Uhran & Schwill.

The mill is equipped with hi-tech testing equipment to perform tasks such as fluoroscopy, radiography, intermediate/final UT and X-rays. It also has a fully equipped NACE laboratory. The mill is API registered with dual certification for API 5L, 5CT, 2B and ISO 9001. In addition the mill holds ISO 14001 & OHSAS 18001 certification.

The mill is capable of producing up to 400 pipes a day and is on its way to becoming an ideal choice for cross-country oil, crude and gas pipelines, particularly considering the flexibility in size and thickness.

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Some of the mill audits which were recently carried out clearly indicate its acceptability among the wider strata of buyer bases, whether it is the quality-conscious global buyers such as Bechtel, Unocal, Exxonmobil, Shell, Saudi Aramco and Saipem or Indian buyers on the domestic front such as Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL), Indian Oil, ONGC and BPCL.

Additional facilities

The Integrated Complex at Dahej on the west coast of India also includes a Spiral Mill and a state-of-the-art Coating Plant. The Spiral Mill, with technology from Capello Tubi, Italy deals with pipes with a size range of 18–72 in.

The Coating Plant – ‘Eupec Welspun Pipecoatings India Limited’ is the result of a joint venture with Germany’s Eupec Pipecoatings GmbH. The Coating Plant specialises in mono and dual-layer fusion bonded epoxy (FBE) and multi-component coating systems made from polyethylene or polypropylene. It is fully geared up for all other kinds of coating applications such as enamel coatings, coal tar, internal epoxy lining, CWC and so on.

Welspun, in a very short time since the commissioning of the mill in 1999, has built up a good reference list. Whether taking up the challenge of producing 56 in. X70 Pipes with 1.40 in. thickness for NIGC’s IGAT IV project or supplying pipe to El Paso’s Cameron Highway Project in the Gulf of Mexico with unmatched tolerances or meeting the tight target set by domestic client GAIL for their prestigious HBJ expansion project (a 42 in. X-70 pipeline), Welspun has proven their worth to their clients.

Welspun has also been in the news recently for supplying SOUR Service Pipes for the PEDCO Iran offshore project where they won the contract against stiff competition from major European and Japanese mills.

These achievements have catapulted this relatively new mill into the company of established world-class pipe mills.

Welspun has made a global impact and aims to continue doing so.