Welspun to begin HR coil production in third quarter

India’s largest pipe-maker Welspun Gujarat Stahl Rohren (WGSRL) is looking to start manufacturing hot rolled (HR) coil mills at its facility in Anjar, Gujarat in the third quarter, said Akhil Jindal, director, corporate affairs.

The dual product plant at Anjar, which can also make HR plates, has a capacity of 1.5 million tonnes per annum (tpa). The mill is currently manufacturing only HR plates. “There will have to be a brief shutdown of the HR plate mill before we start production of HR coils,” he said.

HR plate is used to make longitudinal submerged arc welded (LSAW) pipes and HR coil in helical submerged arc welded (HSAW) pipes. Both are primarily used in the oil & gas space, with LSAW pipes used for pipelines offshore and in tough terrain, and HSAW pipes are used largely for terrestrial purposes.

WGSRL started work on the plant, which also includes a 43 mw captive power plant, in 2005 as part of a backward integration process. The proposed investment in the entire plant is Rs 1,800 crore.

The HR plate mill was commissioned last year and the total production last fiscal was over 1,90,000 tonnes.   The coil mill was commissioned in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal and trial runs have been on since then.  WGSRL has an order book of Rs 6,800 crore, of which HSAW pipes form Rs 4,000 crore and LSAW pipes Rs 2,000 crore.