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Vallourec begins pipe production at new Youngstown mill

By SCOTT SUTTELL

8:00 am, November 6, 2012

 

Vallourec, one of the world's largest makers of steel tubes for the energy market, said it has produced its first pipes at its new mill in Youngstown.

 

The mill, which has 350 employees, primarily will produce small-diameter Oil Country Tubular Goods (OCTG) to support the long-term development of shale oil and gas exploitation in the United States, Vallourec said.

 

Following the piercing of the first billet last June 29 and the commissioning of mill's equipment, continuous production began Oct. 26. That puts the mill on schedule for sales to occur in the beginning of 2013, Vallourec said.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20121106/ENERGY/121109911/1225/newsletter04

A Vallourec Star subsidiary is considering an $81.5 million investment in Youngstown

Project would add 84 jobs, up to $3.7 million in payroll

Published: Tue, January 14, 2014 @ 12:00 a.m.

By David Skolnick

[email protected]

 

YOUNGSTOWN

 

A Vallourec Star subsidiary is in the final stages of deciding if it will invest $81.5 million for the construction of a steel-pipe threading facility at the former Genmak Steel building and an additional 67,500 square feet nearby in the city’s Ohio Works Business Park.

 

Vallourec’s answer on using the Youngstown property for its VAM USA LLC subsidiary is expected in less than 90 days, said city Finance Director David Bozanich.

 

The facility would employ 84 full-time workers by early next year, according to VAM’s 10-year, 75-percent real- property tax abatement application. It listed an estimated annual payroll of $2.9 million on one part of the application and $3.7 million on another.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.vindy.com/news/2014/jan/14/expanding-again/

AWESOME!!!

Moving forward on the site of the old U.S. Steel Ohio Works, just off I-680 west of downtown Youngstown. Granted the new mill won't employ the same 4,000 workers as the Ohio Works did (and that Bruce Springsteen sang about), but city-sized mills requiring thousands of workers aren't needed anymore in....

 

A deal for an $81.5 million plant in Youngstown is expected to be finalized today

Published: Thu, March 13, 2014 @ 12:00 a.m.

VAM USA pipe-threading facility would employ 84

 

By David Skolnick

[email protected]

 

YOUNGSTOWN

 

A deal for a Vallourec Star sister company to build an $81.5 million steel-pipe threading plant in the city is expected to be finalized today.

 

The city’s board of control is to vote today on an agreement with the company, VAM USA LLC.

 

The company plans to hire 84 full-time workers by next year with an estimated payroll of $2.9 million to $3.7 million, according to its tax-abatement application.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.vindy.com/news/2014/mar/13/m-plant-deal-likely-to-get-ok-today/

A friend of mine was at a meeting the other day and learned that V&M is considering doubling the size of their steel production facilities. V&M's Youngstown Works (which now extends 2 miles from I-80 to SR711 along the north side of the Mahoning River -- see map below) is already producing in excess of its capacity and they are turning away work for lack of more capacity.

 

V&M recently invested nearly $1 billion to expand the Youngstown Works with a new 1-million-square-foot structure and a rebuilt processing mill. V&M's Youngstown Works previously was limited to the former Brier Hill Works of Youngstown Sheet & Tube (located on each side of SR711). YS&T closed Brier Hill in 1979 during a wave of plant shutdowns in the Mahoning Valley. Hunt Steel attempted to reactivate the mill in 1983, including adding a modern electric arc furnace to recycle scrap steel (negates the need for shipping in iron ore or coal). But it only made one "heat" before the company went bankrupt. However the availability of an electric arc furnace made the site attractive to investors, including those at North Star Steel which bought the plant and reactivated it in 1986. V&M later bought the plant and expanded it.

 

The V&M Youngstown Works extends from upper left to lower right along the north side of the Mahoning River, from I-80/SR11 to SR711. You can see the new 1-million-square-foot building just north of the county line (shown in green). The former YS&T Brier Hill works is between where it says "Salt Springs" and "Salt Springs Riverbend."

Where would they expand to? Across the river? Or across the tracks to the northeast?

Where would they expand to? Across the river? Or across the tracks to the northeast?

 

I was wondering the same thing. If they want to stay local, the "easiest" (I say that without knowing the intricacies) place to build it may be between the Genessee & Wyoming (ex-Ohio Central, ex-Conrail, ex-Erie Lackawanna) tracks and US422 where the road bows out away from the rail line. V&M has a parking lot at the north end of that site and G&W/Norfolk Southern has some facilities left over from Erie Lackawanna's Brier Hill Yards at the south end of that area. But V&M, the railroads and the trucking companies will all need an apron of land around the plant expansion for inventory staging areas, truck turnarounds and layover sites, and rail yards. The rail yards themselves could be substantial. If you zoom in on the most recent Google map (from 2012) you will lots of new track and more that was being constructed to support the 1-million-square-foot expansion. Something of that scale would probably be needed for doubling of the V&M Youngstown Works' capacity.

 

EDIT: two other potential sites are both across the river. One is just north of SR711, but that is being used by a scrap dealer to dismantled old railroad cars so they can be melted down in V&M's furnaces.

 

The other site is a former slag dump north of I-80, between Girard and McDonald. This is an 80-acre property and is being used temporarily by scrap dealers for inventory staging. However there is a lot of recoverable iron ore in that slag and companies are increasingly mining old slag dumps to convert the material into ore pellets. A company called Magnetation is building a $350 million plant in Reynolds, Indiana to convert old iron tailings from the Mesabi Range into ore pellets. I suspect more will emerge, especially to support steel mill expansions like the one V&M is considering.

This isn't very good news.  I know it says only 3 weeks, but that combined with voluntary layoffs shows that this plant is dependent soley on Oil and Gas and it's viability.

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20150204/FREE/150209942/france-based-vallourec-star-to-shut-down-1-billion-youngstown-steel

 

France-based Vallourec Star to shut down $1 billion Youngstown steel mill for at least three weeks

The company cited lack of demand for the oil and gas products it makes as the reason for the shutdown. Vallourec Star said its 500-plus employees will return to work 'after that blackout period' and it is offering six-month voluntary layoffs to employees willing to take them.

 

And I guess this means the proposed doubling of the size of this steel mill is off the table!