Vallourec signs 10-year agreement with Saudi Aramco for premium casing supply, services

French-headquartered seamless tube steelmaker Vallourec has signed a 10-year agreement with Saudi Aramco for the supply of premium oil country tubular good, or OCTG, solutions for its drilling operations, the company said late Sept. 20.

The agreement also includes the supply of premium casing and inventory management services, with the steelmaker manufacturing and delivering the order from its plant in Saudi Arabia, it said.

The agreement is on a call-off basis contract, placed every quarter with the first two on-call orders already received and delivery scheduled for early 2023, Vallourec said.

The agreement strengthens the existing relationship between the Valloreuc Group and Saudi Aramco and “paves the way for extended collaboration with clear opportunities to introduce our wide range of innovative solutions while enhancing our footprint in the Kingdom,” Vallourec Chairman and CEO Philippe Guillemot said.

Seamless tubes are produced mainly via blast furnace using iron ore as a key raw material.

Seaborne iron ore prices fell Sept. 20 as market participants adopted a wait-and-watch stance amid expectations that the US Federal Reserve will raise interest rates. The 62% Fe Iron Ore Index was at $96.65/dry mt CFR North China Sept. 20, down $1.05/dmt from Sept. 19, according to the Platts assessment from S&P Global Commodity Insights.

— Annalisa Villa