Luxembourg-based Tenaris S.A., a distributor and manufacturer of steel pipe geared toward the oil and gas industry, is investing $1.8 billion in a new pipe mill in Bay City southwest of Houston in Matagorda Country.
The location is strategic in its proximity to unconventional shale plays, which generate demand for the pipe products coming out of the facility, according to Tenaris.
The mill will have the capacity to produce 600,000 tons of oil country tubular goods, which refers mainly to casing and tubing used in drilling, as well as line pipe and other pipe used in producing or transporting oil and gas.
The project is expected to be complete sometime in 2017, generating 600 direct manufacturing jobs that will eventually amount to an average annual payroll of $40 million.