GPIC Announces First Application of ATI OmegaBond(TM) Advanced Tubing
PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania -- February 14, 2008 -- Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (NYSE:ATI) announced today that it has reached an agreement with Gulf Petrochemical Industries, Co. (GPIC) to supply ATI OmegaBond(TM) advanced tubing for GPIC's fertilizer production complex in the Kingdom of Bahrain. GPIC is the first company to adopt the OmegaBond(TM) technology for a full-scale plant application.
GPIC produces urea, one of the most important nitrogenous fertilizers, commonly used throughout the world for the production of food and biofuels. Urea is stable, safe, and easy to transport.
GPIC selected ATI's new OmegaBond(TM) advanced tubing for use in its urea stripper. A stripper is a high temperature, high pressure vertical falling-film heat exchanger. ATI Wah Chang developed an OmegaBond(TM) tube design using Zircadyne® 702 alloy and Titanium Grade 3 alloy specifically for the stripper in Snamprogetti-licensed urea plants.
ATI Wah Chang, an ATI company, will begin supplying OmegaBond(TM) advanced tubing to GPIC in early 2008. GPIC's urea stripper is expected to be in operation in the second half of 2009. GPIC chose OmegaBond(TM) advanced tubing because of its reduced operating costs (energy savings), reduced down time, and extended equipment life.
OmegaBond(TM) technology is a product platform that enables the use of dissimilar metals in the same tube or pipe by use of advanced materials joining technologies, such as extrusion bonding or inertia welding. These joining technologies allow the optimization of material properties where they are specifically needed in a process component.
Snamprogetti, S.p.A., based in Milan, Italy, is a company of Saipem. ATI Wah Chang and Snamprogetti are collaborating to commercialize new materials solutions for Snamprogetti-licensed urea plants. OmegaBond(TM) products are designed to increase urea plant efficiencies, reduce plant maintenance costs, improve plant operating costs, and eliminate corrosion and erosion problems.
ATI Wah Chang is a world leader in the manufacture of specialty metals including titanium, zirconium, niobium, and hafnium alloys in a variety of flat-rolled and long product forms. The company also produces cast and engineered parts as well as specialty chemicals. ATI Wah Chang provides customers in the chemical processing, nuclear electrical energy, aerospace, and medical markets with the alloys, technical assistance, and laboratory services necessary to support current and future industry needs. For further information, go to www.WahChang.com.
Snamprogetti S.p.A. is a company of Saipem. Saipem, 43% owned by Eni, is organised in three Business Units: Offshore, Onshore and Drilling, with a strong bias towards oil & gas related activities in remote areas and deepwater. Saipem is a leader in the provision of engineering, procurement, project management and construction services with distinctive capabilities in the design and the execution of large scale offshore and onshore projects, and technological competences such as gas monetisation and heavy oil exploitation. The Saipem website is www.saipem.eni.it.
Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (GPIC) was established in December 1979 as a joint venture between GCC member states for the manufacture of fertilisers and petrochemicals. The joint venture is equally owned by the Government of the Kingdom of Bahrain, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Petrochemical Industries Company, Kuwait. GPIC operates a petrochemical complex comprising of single stream Ammonia & Methanol Plants each of capacity 1200 MTPD and a single stream Urea Plant (Granulation route) of design capacity 1700 MTPD with associated utilities, off-site and material handling plants. The Ammonia and Methanol Plants are in operation since 1985 while the Urea Plant was commissioned in January 1998 and is in operation since then. The company's activities include natural gas purchases, employment and training of Bahraini nationals, utilisation of local contractors, power consumption and other financial and commercial operations which have injected around BD38 million (US$100 million) annually into the national economy. The GPIC website is www.gpic.com.
Building the World's Best Specialty Metals Company(TM)
Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (ATI) is one of the largest and most diversified specialty metals producers in the world with revenues of $5.5 billion during 2007. ATI has approximately 9,700 full-time employees world-wide who develop and apply innovative technologies to provide global markets a wide range of specialty metals solutions. Our major markets are aerospace and defense, chemical process industry/oil and gas, electrical energy, medical, automotive, food equipment and appliance, machine and cutting tools, and construction and mining. Our products include titanium and titanium alloys, nickel-based alloys and superalloys, stainless and specialty alloys, zirconium, hafnium, and niobium, tungsten materials, grain-oriented silicon electrical products, and forgings and castings. The ATI website is www.AlleghenyTechnologies.com.
Contact:
Dan L. Greenfield
(412) 394-3004
