Vallourec Star adjusts due to declining oil prices

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Declining oil prices have forced Vallourec Star to make adjustments in its operations.

The company, which produces steel pipes for the oil and gas industry on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, issued the following statement: “In response to the declining oil and gas market, Vallourec Star is developing alternative operating plans and schedules. These plans include flexibility in scheduling production, overtime and contractors. We are also working with suppliers and customers to closely monitor activity.

“We’ve adapted successfully to similar downturns in the past. Preservation of our employees and maintaining a properly skilled workforce has always been and will continue to be a focal point in our strategy.”

Earlier in the month, the company issued a statement saying it would closely monitor oil prices and its customers’ activity. That statement came after U.S. Steel said it furloughed about 750 employees from two plants that make tubular steel, which is used in oil and gas drilling.

Youngstown’s Vallourec Star is a subsidiary of France-based company Vallourec USA. The facility started its production of small-diameter pipe for sales in the U.S. and Canadian markets in October 2012 and created 350 jobs in the Mahoning Valley.

In June 2013, the company had a dedication ceremony for a new seamless-pipe mill. The more than $1 billion facility was built to keep up with the demand for small-diameter pipe used in hydraulic fracturing.

Vallourec employs about 700.