Large-diameter pipe (LDP) shipments to the Russian market will decline in the third quarter owing to a slowdown in pipeline project construction, TMK says in a report sent to Kallanish.

TMK saw consolidated pipe shipments increase 5% on-quarter in Q2 to 890,000 tonnes, of which 333,000t was OCTG, up 7%. The increase was driven by an 8% rise in welded pipe deliveries to 304,000t. Seamless sales rose 4% to 587,000t thanks to better performance in the American and European divisions.

Demand from the oil & gas industry improved in Q2 as oil prices rose. Welded pipe was boosted by stronger industrial pipe demand following a price increase in Russia, as well as line pipe demand in the US and Russia. Premium threaded connections shipments rose 7.4% versus Q1 to 112,000 joints.

TMK’s Russian division saw shipments rise 2% on-quarter to 756,000t in Q2, included in which OCTG shipments grew 2.5% to 278,000t. Seamless shipments remained flat at 480,000t. Welded deliveries grew 6% to 276,000t due to customers restocking on the back of higher metal prices expectations. LDP shipments, however, declined -5% to 134,000t.

Despite the strong Q2 performance, consolidated shipments fell -11% on-year in the first half of 2016 to 1.74 million tonnes, dragged down by a -21.5% drop in welded sales to 585,000t. Welded suffered from weaker LDP shipments as some Russian pipeline construction was postponed. Seamless sales fell -5% to 1.15mt. Included in overall shipments, OCTG fell -14% to 645,000t.

Russian division shipments fared better in H1, falling only -1.6% to 1.5mt. Seamless deliveries actually rose by 5% to 961,000t, but welded deliveries fell -11% to 536,000t.