August 13, 2012
After almost a year of site and foundation work, construction on the $1 billion TPCO America Co. seamless steel pipe plant in San Patricio County is showing highly visible signs of progress. This photo shows construction in progress on Aug. 9th as seen from the Highway 35 overpass at SH 361.
Crews spent early August rapidly erecting the steel skeleton of the very large building that will house the plant’s pipe finishing and heat treatment lines.
Work has also been underway on a pipeline that will bring potable water to the plant via the City of Gregory system which is supplied by the Water District. TPCO has requested that the Water District expand capacity so it can provide the steel pipe plant with 2 million gallons per day to be used in the industrial process. Under arrangements being finalized, the District will expand sedimentation and microfiltration capacity at Plant C, install a pipeline connection to TPCO and increase the capacity of the district's system delivering Nueces River water for treatment.
CONSTRUCTION SCHEDULE ESTABLISHED
TPCO has announced that the target completion date for the initial phase of construction is March of next year. Shipments of process equipment for the pipe finishing and heat treatment lines were scheduled to begin arriving in August.
TPCO, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tianjin Pipe Corp. of China, announced plans in 2009 to construct the mini mill and seamless steel pipe plant. The company won approval of state air permits and purchased a 253-acre site east of Gregory in 2010.
TPCO has also started preparatory site work for construction of the steelmaking plant, a pipe rolling plant and additional pipe finishing lines. The company has said it anticipates these facilities to be completed late in 2014.
Once manufacturing begins the facility will produce tubular goods utilized in oil and gas exploration and production in the U.S. and worldwide with export shipments moving through the Port of Corpus Christi.
Jacobs Engineering, one of the world's largest providers of technical, professional, and construction services, is the overall project management consultant. Plant engineering services are being provided by Middough, which has offices in Ohio and Houston, and R. T. Patterson of Pittsburgh, PA.
