In the News

Order for Keystone Pipeline to Benefit Welspun Work in Little Rock

08/14/2020
Arkansas Business

Welspun Tubular LLC of Little Rock announced Thursday that it has received an order from TC Energy that’s expected to keep 500 people working through at least 2021.

The company did not disclose the value of the order, which was for more than 1 million feet in 36-inch line pipe for the $8 billion, 1,210-mile Keystone XL Pipeline.

The pipeline, which will deliver 830,000 barrels per day of crude oil from Hardisty, Alberta, in Canada, to Steele City, Nebraska, is expected to enter service in 2023. TC Energy is based in Calgary, and the pipeline will connect to its existing facilities.

“This new order will allow us to operate our Welspun Large Diameter Pipe Mill and continue to provide direct jobs for over 500 workers in Little Rock, Arkansas,” Rusty Fisher, President of the Americas for Welspun, said in a news release. “Further, it is said that, for every job at Welspun, another four jobs for workers are created in the Little Rock area economy.”

The company said the order would have a job value creation across the supply chain, from steel making to pipe making, to pipe coating and to pipe transportation.

“This is a tangible and real example of what we mean when we speak about the local benefits of Keystone XL to Americans and the communities across this country that they live and work in,” Keystone XL President Richard Prior said in a news release. “As we recover from this pandemic, Keystone XL will be critical in creating high paying jobs and economic stimulus in many communities across the country.”

Arkansas political leaders celebrated the announcement.

“At this tough time in our economy, this ensures that Welspun can keep their talented force of nearly 500 workers engaged until, at least, early 2021,” U.S. Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., said. “This pro-growth investment in central Arkansas will enhance our nation’s modern, safe energy infrastructure while supporting the livelihood of 500 central Arkansas families in the midst of this pandemic.”

Gov. Asa Hutchinson said the deal “will lead to further economic growth in our state and will create good-paying jobs for Arkansans.”

The Keystone Pipeline has been controversial. In 2012, the project stalled, and congressmen from both parties wanted then-President Barack Obama to approve it because they said it would mean jobs for companies in Arkansas like Welspun Tubular. Obama killed the project in 2015, but President Donald Trump revived it through executive order two years later.