Innovative heavy-plate solutions for the oil and gas industry - International participation at Dillinger Hütte colloquium

Dillinger Hütte GTS, one of the world's most important suppliers of high-quality special engineering plate and components for the boiler and pressure vessel industries hosted this technical congress in the Dillingen Stadthalle ("Municipal Hall") on September 21 and 22, 2006. The event was opened by the Secretary of State of the Ministry of Economics and Employment, Albert Hettrich, who emphasized Dillinger Hütte's know-how and its R&D commitment, stating that "Dillinger Hütte is now better positioned than ever on the global heavy-plate market, using ultra-modern facilities for production of top-quality plate to ensure maximum benefit for its customers." Plant construction is booming worldwide, in response to mushrooming increases in demand for oil, gas and petrochemical products. Continuing high energy prices provide the very significant financial resources that the operators need to make the enormous investments required to meet burgeoning energy demands. "Dillinger Hütte is benefiting from the booming energy sector, with sales to the plant construction segment, for construction of oil and gas pipelines, and for offshore engineering, enjoying extremely heavy demand“, commented the Chairman of the Dillinger Hütte Board of Management, Dr. Paul Belche, in his speech of welcome. The aim of the colloquium was to promote intensive interchange of information, with the emphasis on the best and most innovative solutions for the use of high-performance steels along the extremely complex supply chain from the steel mill to the plant operator. "The driving forces in this context are high plant safety, availability and efficiency, combined with minimum possible costs“, added Dr. Belche. The papers and discussions at the colloquium also focused on new primary energy sources and their special demands: In addition to "classical" plants and refineries for processing of oil and gas, investments are now also increasing in new energy sources and technologies, such as the conversion of natural gas to particularly environmentally friendly fuels. Canada's oil sand reserves, for instance, have now become a commercially exploitable energy resource. The enormous challenges presented by the recovery and processing of both traditional and new fossil energy sources provide the background to the intensive development of new and innovative solutions.