Saudi Steel Pipe Company Ltd (SSP) has been long recognised as Saudi Arabia’s premier manufacturer of welded steel pipes since its inception in 1980.

The company provides HFIW (high frequency induction welded) steel pipes to serve the region’s oil and gas, water, construction and many other market sectors.
Over the last 25 years, SSP has secured a leading position among the world’s leading pipe manufacturers.
With its customer-led strategy and continuous drive towards achieving the best standards of quality and product reliability, SSP has pioneered the substitution of imported steel pipes with Saudi manufactured products, both locally and internationally.
The year 2006 has been a very busy year for SSP with the award of major contracts to manufacture and supply line pipes for a number of oil and gas companies in the region.
The most important of those is with Saudi Aramco where a five-year reserve capacity agreement has been signed which enables SSP to supply Aramco with the requirements of HFIW for its upcoming projects for the coming five years, other projects includes the supply of pipeline projects for PDO - Oman, PPC - Egypt and expectations are for award of a project in Qatar. The award of steel contracts highlights the trust placed by the oil and gas sector in the outstanding quality of SSP products, which are subjected to the most stringent standards. The manufacturing standards adopted by SSP are internationally recognised, but in many cases, meet and exceed the globally recognised American Petroleum Institute (API) standards for line pipe.
SSP believes that investment in both mechanical and industrial aspects as well as human resources is equally important.
It has given top priority to upgrading the skills of its existing and new employees.
SSP Training Centre helps new employees adapt to their new work environment quickly through a comprehensive orientation programme.
The programme addresses the basics of the company’s life such as rules, regulations, organisation, products and specifications, safety, production and maintenance.
In addition, the centre provides technical training comprising a variety of short courses including: General Safety and First Aid, General Quality, Production, Cost Control, Preventive Maintenance and miscellaneous lectures related to company’s type of industry.
SSP management, during its 25 years of operations, has demonstrated great awareness of the importance of maintaining high performance levels both technically and environmentally.
The award of the 14001 ISO certificate is a result of the SSP management’s awareness of its responsibilities towards its employees and its society, which made SSP among the first few in the Middle East to be an environmentally friendly manufacturer and exporter.
The International Standards Organisation ISO set up the international environmental system ISO 14001 as a voluntary scheme for organisations interested in improving their performance environmentally by providing a suitable and safe working atmosphere for employees.
The company’s endeavours were rewarded with the award of the certificate, adding to a long list of approvals and accreditations obtained during the 25 years of continuous hard work.
The list of approvals continues to grow in recognition of the company’s commitment to excellence.
The API Monogram, Aramco Approval, UL, ISO and the Royal Commission are just a few of SSP’s approvals.
One of SSP’s major investments include the installation of an induction-bending machine capable of producing high duality bends in pipe from 3” to 42” in diameter and to wall thicknesses up to 100mm.
These investments have been applauded by many of the region’s key consumers such as Saudi Aramco, Sabic, Kuwait Oil Company, Qatar Petroleum, Adnoc and PDO (Oman).
SSP products are sold locally and exported to more than 20 countries overseas. The SSP customer list includes Saudi Aramco, Saudi Chevron, NPCC (UAE), KOC (Kuwait), Takreer (UAE), Dodsal (UAE), ONGC Videsh Ltd (India) and many others.
Setting new standards in product quality
The success of Saudi Steel Pipe Company Ltd (SSP) over the past quarter of a century is the result of an ambitious and clearly formulated development plan.
From the outset, SSP invested in leading-edge technologies applying proven manufacturing and production processes available from the global industry. These technologies and processes formed the basis around which SSP designed and commissioned the plant.
Since then, SSP has systematically educated the market about its high-class products and services.
The oil and gas industry’s concern for product reliability and, ultimately, safety is a crucial matter and not taken lightly by the petroleum sector.
SSP’s commitment to product reliability begins with precise documentation of all raw materials and continues through each stage of the manufacturing process to the finished product being readied for shipment.
Each pipe can be tracked for its size, grade, wall thickness and process history through 12 stages of production with each pipe given its own identification number.
Within the system there are a wide range of reports available as part of product conformance to API and ISO documentation requirements and individual customer needs.
A state-of-the-art laboratory with a full range of mechanical and chemical test capabilities allows the company team to closely supervise a variety of quality control procedures in the production process at regular intervals.
The pipe is subjected to various tests and inspections to confirm that it meets customer and industry specifications from raw material to finished products. Quality control inspectors are committed to check and monitor strictly the quality from each stage of process.
Using the previously described test results, SSP can determine the process condition and take any necessary action to insure desired product performance.
SSP’s state-of-the-art high frequency induction welded (HFIW) steel pipe mill produces in the 6” to 16” size range. The latest in pipe forming and welding technologies is featured coupled with sophisticated materials tracking and process control systems.
Coil joining, accumulation, edge milling, linear forming, high frequency induction welding, continuous electronic process control system, online ultrasonic testing and seam annealing are some of the key process features.
The Accumulator withstands 200 metric tonnes in process strip storage and allows for continuous downstream forming and welding while upstream joining is taking place.
The edge milling process provides clean and parallel strip edge surfaces for uniform heating prior to welding.
The cage forming eliminates variable stress buildup inherent in traditional strip forming. The HFIW steel pipe mill utilises inducting coil to obtain even heating of the strip edge for proper welding. Importantly, HFIW eliminates problems common to contact tip welding.
The continuous process control ensures that power, current, welding temperature, line speed, efficiency K-factor, metal flow angle is continuously tracked and recorded in real time. To ensure weld integrity, a nine-point examination uses an online ultrasonic tester.
In order to eliminate any residual stress associated with welding, post weld normalising “Seam Annealing” of the bondline and heat affected zone is carried out.
Induction Bending
SSP has added “Induction Bending” as a new production line as part of world-class manufacturing facilities.
Induction bending is a controlled high precision bending of pipe and shapes under localised heating using high frequency induction electric power.
It is a flexible and versatile method to solve or simplify many difficult situations for mechanical and construction contractors in oil, gas, petrochemical plants and architectural structures to substitute for elbows and fittings and to make new creative shapes.
The benefits of SSP bends includes: large radius for smooth flow of fluids, less field welding, less x-ray inspection on site, fewer connections and/or weld joints, multiple bends for quick installation and uniformity of material of pipe and bend.
Many companies have exclusively chosen SSP induction pipe bends, which can be used in petroleum, chemical, steel and power plants.
Laboratory
SSP posses a state of the art laboratory which includes most advanced and up-to-date equipment and testing devices, some of which are:
• A full range spectrometer with 20 channels capable of chemical analysis;
• A fully computerised 100-tonne universal testing machine for an array of tensile, bending, elongation and flattening and other mechanical tests; and
• An image analysis system enabling to process and analyse all metallurgical images automatically and displaying them on the monitor.
The lab also is able to perform manual ultrasonic tests, zinc weight tests and assortment of other tests, including HIC (Hydrogen Induced Cracking) and SSCC (Sulfide Stress Corrosion Cracking) evaluations in accordance with industry or customer specification.
Expert professionals and advanced hi-tech infrastructure at SSP for comprehensive product quality testing and evaluation process.