Al Gharbia Pipe Company expects to raise production to 200,000 tonnes next year from about 60,000 tonnes this year, as Gulf countries plan new pipelines to carry oil and gas around the Strait of Hormuz.
“Every country in the region is considering a new pipeline to avoid Hormuz. We expect more demand in future,” Noritsugu Mifune, the Abu Dhabi company’s acting chief executive, told The National.
Al Gharbia is a joint venture between Abu Dhabi’s Senaat, Japan’s JFE Steel and Marubeni-Itochu Steel. It makes large-diameter pipes used to carry oil and gas over long distances.
The company produced about 250,000 tonnes of pipe last year. Output fell this year as the war disrupted supply chains and delayed oil and gas projects across the region, the newspaper reported.
Talks with ADNOC
Al Gharbia has supplied pipes for ADNOC’s West-East crude pipeline and for Iraq’s Majnoon oilfield near Basra, Mifune said. He said the company is in discussions with ADNOC on future pipeline projects.
The UAE is expanding the 360-kilometer Habshan-Fujairah line to double its export capacity from 1.5 million barrels per day. Saudi Arabia is also studying an expansion of its East-West pipeline.
The company is also looking at making pipes to transport hydrogen.
Steel shipment crosses the strait
Al Gharbia imports the steel plates used to make its pipes from Europe, China, South Korea and Japan. Fujairah port has handled much of that cargo since the strait was disrupted.
A vessel carrying steel for the company has crossed the Strait of Hormuz, the first such shipment since the conflict began, Junya Kako, chief commercial officer, told a media round-table in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
