Tata Steel's European operations have won a multi-million dollar contract to supply piping for a deepwater project in the Gulf of Mexico, as demand in that segment gradually recovers following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010.

Tata Steel's Hartlepool plant in north-eastern England will supply US-based Enterprise Products Partners with 48,000 metric tonnes of 18-inch steel piping for a 105-mile stretch of pipeline serving the Lucius Development Project, a deepwater project in the Keathley Canyon of the Gulf of Mexico.

The Lucius project, a joint development by companies including Apache Corporation, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, Plains Exploration & Production Company and three other partners, once developed will have a production capacity of 80,000 barrels of oil a day. The pipeline itself will be laid at a depth of up to 7,000 feet. Production from Lucius is set to commence in 2014.

This is a significant contract for Tata Steel, said Ms. Deirdre Fox, director of sales and marketing at Tata Steel. This contract enhances our position as the global leader in delivering line pipe for deep water projects.

The market to supply steel for this niche came under pressure following the accident on the Deepwater Horizon oilrig in April 2010 that killed 11 workers. A temporarily moratorium on deep water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico was ordered immediately afterwards by the US President, Mr Barack Obama. However, soon after the moratorium was lifted and in February last year Houston-based Nobel Energy won the first contract since the accident.

Over the past four to five months, there were have been noticeable signs of an uptick, as the rhetoric in the US has shifted from environmental damage to the lack of employment opportunities along the gulf coast, says Mr. John Anton, director of steel services at global forecaster, IHS Global Insight.

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