Vallourec

Vallourec has secured the entire carbon-steel line pipe and external coating scope for Petrobras's Sepia 2 offshore development in Brazil's Santos Basin, covering roughly 130 kilometers of rigid risers and flowlines. The contract, awarded by Subsea7, represents more than 15,000 tonnes of carbon-steel seamless line pipe designed for highly corrosive environments, with Vallourec also applying thermal insulation coating through one integrated offer. Vallourec shares rose around 6% on the announcement. The pipes will be manufactured at Vallourec's Jeceaba plant in Minas Gerais, while the thermal insulation coating will be applied at its Serra facility in Espírito Santo. Sepia 2 sits around 280 kilometers off the Brazilian coast in ultra-deep water, with 15 wells connected to a new floating production, storage and offloading vessel at depths of roughly 2,170 meters. No financial value was disclosed, but the order adds to recent offshore wins including Petrobras-linked projects at Atapu and Búzios, and follows a 2025 agreement with Petrobras that could generate up to $1 billion of revenue from offshore OCTG products and services between 2026 and 2029.

Vallourec broke ground on a new production line for Proxxima resin systems with Goldilocks subsea insulation technology, known as GDLX, at its Serra facility in Espírito Santo, Brazil. The milestone advances industrial deployment of the subsea thermal insulation technology licensed from ExxonMobil and reinforces Brazil's strategic role in the Group's global industrial strategy. The announcement was made during a visit by Philippe Guillemot, Chairman and CEO of Vallourec, who said the enhanced GDLX capabilities were instrumental in securing the Hammerhead and Longtail contracts, the largest line pipe orders ever secured by Vallourec. The technology has already been selected for ExxonMobil's Longtail deepwater project in Guyana, for which Vallourec will supply thermal insulated line pipes as part of its broader integrated offshore offering. Located close to the Port of Vitória, the Serra facility is positioned to serve domestic and export markets, and Andre Lacerda, Senior Vice President South America, Tube Activities, said the investment expands local capabilities and long-term commitment to Espírito Santo and Brazil's offshore industry.

Vallourec, a world leader in premium seamless tubular solutions, announced the signing of an agreement with Aramco to strengthen their commercial, industrial, and technological ties, formalized during the French-Saudi Investment Roundtable Meeting in Paris. The partnership, which dates back to 1962, has deepened over nearly 65 years, with Vallourec establishing a local industrial facility in Dammam in 2011 and signing a long-term supply agreement for locally manufactured premium OCTG pipes in 2022. The new agreement builds on this history, aiming to expand production capabilities and support Saudi Arabia's development of unconventional resources. Philippe Guillemot, Chairman and CEO of Vallourec, emphasized the mutual trust and the importance of local presence in ensuring supply security despite logistical constraints.

Vallourec has been awarded a contract by Allseas to supply carbon steel seamless line pipes and thermal insulation coating for the Atapu 2 offshore project in Brazil. The contract covers 143 kilometers of rigid risers and flowlines, representing approximately 19,000 tons of bare line pipe. The pipes will be produced at Vallourec's Jeceaba mill, while the coating will be applied at its Serra facility, leveraging capabilities from the recent acquisition of Thermotite do Brasil. The Atapu 2 project, operated by Petrobras on behalf of the Unitized ATAPU consortium, will develop part of the Atapu Field in the Santos Basin at water depths between 2,000 and 2,350 meters, with 18 wells connected to a floating production storage and offloading unit.

Salzgitter AG has reached a final agreement to acquire full ownership of Hüttenwerke Krupp Mannesmann, making the integrated steelworks a wholly owned subsidiary. The deal follows the decision of co-shareholders thyssenkrupp Steel Europe and Vallourec to exit the joint venture, with contracts signed on July 8 and closing expected later today. Salzgitter plans to invest in an electric arc furnace at the Duisburg site to cut CO2 emissions by 90 percent long-term, but the transition will reduce the workforce from about 3,000 to roughly 1,000 and lower crude steel output to two million metric tons per year. CEO Gunnar Groebler said the acquisition secures a future for the historic site through a green transformation, while thyssenkrupp Steel's supply contract with HKM will now expire at the end of 2028 instead of 2032. The financial impact on Salzgitter's 2026 forecast will be detailed in its half-year report on August 11, 2026.

Vallourec has obtained certification from the Global Steel Climate Council for its science-based decarbonization pathway. The certification confirms that Vallourec's climate transition pathway aligns with the GSCC Steel Climate Standard, an internationally recognized framework supporting the Paris Agreement objectives. Following an independent assessment, Vallourec's Corporate Average Steel Emissions Intensity was certified at 1.70 metric tons of CO₂e per metric ton of hot-rolled steel for its 2021 baseline. Thanks to decarbonization initiatives, this intensity has already been reduced to 1.16 tCO₂e per metric ton in 2025, demonstrating alignment with the GSCC standard which requires the carbon intensity of hot-rolled steel to remain below 1.20 tCO₂e per metric ton by 2030. Vallourec also aims to reduce the carbon footprint of its finished tubes by 30% by 2030 compared with 2021 and to reduce its overall Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions by 25% over the same period.

Vallourec a remporté un contrat majeur auprès d'Azule Energy, la coentreprise formée par Eni et BP, pour le projet de développement offshore Greater PAJ en Angola. Dans ce cadre, Vallourec fournira plus de 26 000 tonnes de line pipes en acier carbone sans soudure, soit environ 210 kilomètres de pipelines, incluant des solutions dotées d'un revêtement d'isolation thermique à forte épaisseur. Les livraisons débuteront en juillet 2027 et se poursuivront jusqu'en décembre 2027. Le projet Greater PAJ, situé à environ 200 kilomètres au large des côtes angolaises par des profondeurs de 1 500 à 2 000 mètres, couvre le développement de cinq champs offshore : Palas, Astraea, Juno, Dione et Urano. Ce contrat prévoit notamment la mise en œuvre de l'un des systèmes d'isolation thermique les plus épais jamais déployés dans l'industrie sous-marine, avec une épaisseur de Glass Syntactic Polypropylene pouvant atteindre 120 mm.

Goldman Sachs said artificial intelligence and digital technologies could significantly shorten development timelines and lower costs for new oil and gas projects. AI, high-performance computing, and digitalization could reduce the average development cycle for greenfield deepwater projects from about 12 years to seven years, with most of the time savings occurring before final investment decisions through faster exploration, appraisal, and engineering work. The improvements could lift the internal rate of return for a typical greenfield oil project to 19% from 15.5% by lowering capital spending, reducing operating costs, shortening development timelines, and increasing production, while project breakeven prices could decline by about 15%. Among oilfield services companies, TGS, Vallourec and SLB were identified as the strongest beneficiaries of increasing AI adoption, while companies focused on floating production storage and offloading vessels and pure subsea construction contractors are expected to benefit less because their operations remain constrained by fabrication capacity rather than digital workflows.