Jindal SAW partners Hunting to build $25-m OCTG threading plant in Nashik

Jindal SAW on Wednesday said it has formed a joint venture with Hunting Energy Services to set up an oil country tubular goods (OCTG) threading plant in Nashik. The plant will manufacture equipment used in oil and gas drilling services, and will help in the import substitution of these items. The initial investment in the joint venture, a 51:49 partnership where Jindal SAW is a majority shareholder, will be around $20-25 million and the potential annual market size for the product in India is close to $200 million, the statement said.

“This will be the only such facility in this part of the world,” Daniel Tan, managing director, Asia Pacific, Hunting PLC, told FE, adding that it is a “strategic investment” by the global company keeping in mind the “changes in the supply chain dynamics in the post-Covid era”. The facility is targeted to be operational by the end of 2022, with three threading lines being commissioned over time with an annual capacity of 50,000 tonne.

“Our collective efforts and combined strengths will revolutionise the OCTG manufacturing sector and its usage in the domestic market,” group CEO of Jindal SAW Neeraj Kumar said.

The joint venture, aligned with the ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative, would open the doors for OCTG from the country to various parts of the world, the statement said.

The agreement formalises a closer working partnership between the two businesses, following a strategic alliance in 2019, when the two companies started to develop their presence in the OCTG market in India.