In the heart of the Rust Belt, under the season’s first snowfall, Vallourec convened its management team and board of directors at its Youngstown, Ohio facility on Monday, November 10. the seamless tube specialist announced a $48 million (approximately 41.4 million euros) investment in a state-of-the-art threading line.
The designated location, currently an empty square at the rear of the largest factory, was marked with an excavator adorned with the American Star-Spangled Banner. Within a little over a year, in early 2027, this line will produce tubes specifically for the lateral drilling of American onshore oil and gas wells, reaching depths of several thousand meters.
Turning the page on recovery
“It is the final two stages of production carried out in our factories that offer very high added value: the heat treatment, which imparts extreme mechanical properties to the tubes, and the threading, which ensures their hermetic assembly thanks to our patented connections,” explains Philippe Guillemot. As his arrival in 2021, the CEO of vallourec has prioritized “value over volume.” While its technology has proven lucrative for the company in the oil and gas sector, the path to success hasn’t been easy.
The century-old group barely repaid its debt in January 2025, which had stood at 1.5 billion euros just three years prior. Following the closure of European sites, the transfer of some activities to Brazil, and the elimination of nearly 3,000 jobs, it paid its first dividend in ten years to shareholders in 2025.
From steel casting to tube threading
Vallourec is now demonstrating its renewed strength at this 200-hectare facility, which supplies the American market – representing 40% of its sales in the third quarter of 2025. The French industrialist has been based in this Midwestern city of 60,000 inhabitants since the 1980s, producing its steel tubes from start to finish – over 250,000 per year – primarily for the country’s onshore industry.
In Youngstown, vallourec produces around 700,000 tonnes of recycled steel of American origin per year. Credits: Mia GR
Despite the November chill, the steelworks continuously melts metal at 1650°C, adding alloying elements, casting, and cutting it into billets around the clock.These are then drilled into ten-meter tubes, sent to finishing lines for quality control, heat treatment, anti-corrosion coating, threading, and other processes tailored to specific requirements.”We are in heavy industry, but also in high-fashion steel,” Philippe guillemot remarks. “We sometimes support our customers for months, helping them choose the right steel grade and connection.”
(Almost) immunity from customs duties
The group has invested nearly $1.5 billion in the site over the past 15 years, including the o