TMK sold 938,000 tons of steel pipes in the fourth quarter of 2015, four percent less than in the previous quarter, the company said in a trading update.

TMK’s pipe shipments fell 11.5 percent last year as whole to 3.873 million tons.

In 2015, the shipment of seamless pipes fell by 5.0 percent year-on-year to 2.413 million tons. Shipments in the fourth quarter of 2015 increased by 4.6 percent quarter-on-quarter to 613,000 tons.

Welded pipe shipments in 2015 dropped by 20.5 percent year-on-year to 1.46 million tons due to lower orders on welded oil country tubular goods (“OCTG”) in the American division, which were hardly recouped by increased large diameter pipe (“LDP”) sales in the Russian division. In the fourth quarter of 2015, welded pipe shipments were down 16.8 percent quarter-on-quarter to 325,000 tons.

In 2015, OCTG pipe shipments dropped by 23.6 percent year-on-year to 1.48 million tons. The drop was due to a significantly lower demand for these products in the American market as well. In the fourth quarter of 2015, OCTG shipments were up 14.4 percent quarter-on-quarter, reaching 388,000 tons, due to the seasonal procurement of tubular products by Russian oil and gas companies.

In the fourth quarter of 2015, shipments of TMK UP premium threaded connections amounted to 152,000 joints, down 9.3 percent quarter-on-quarter. In 2015, shipments of TMK UP premium threaded connections totaled 684,000 joints, a figure reflecting a drop of 23.3 percent year-on-year. The decline resulted from the suspension of many oil and gas production projects in the United States due to the decline in global oil prices.

In 2016, TMK intends to increase overall sales both in the Russian division and in the group overall compared to 2015, the company said.

“There will be no major changes in 2016 in the Russian market: oil and gas pipe consumption will remain at the 2015 level, while LDP will be in demand both to meet repair and maintenance needs and support trunk pipeline construction projects. The industrial pipe segment will most probably show a further decline, although with a lower rate,” the company said.

TMK said it would “seek to maintain high shipment volumes in the best-selling segments of the pipe market, above all in OCTG.”

“In the United States, the demand for oil and gas pipe will remain weak due to low drilling volumes, large inventories, and continued low-priced imports. The American pipe market is not expected to recover before the end of 2016,” the company said.

“Pipe consumption in the European pipe market will also remain low in the first quarter of 2016. A gradual improvement is expected no earlier than the second half of 2016,” it said.

Besides Russia, TMK – which is the country’s biggest pipe producer and one of the world’s top three – has production sites in the United States, Romania, and Kazakhstan. Its principal beneficiary is the chairman of its board of directors, Dmitry Pumpyansky. The free float is 23 percent.