News About Alloy Metals and Tubing International

Subsea Tieback Forum and Exhibition

Alloy Metals and Tubes International will be an exhibitor at the 2010 Subsea Tieback Forum and Exhibition in Galveston, TX at the Moody Gardens Hotel & Conference Center, from March 2 -4. Come by our booth (#1209) and meet us, and let’s talk about how we can help you with your tubing needs. Last year we met lots of old friends, and made some new ones, and we are looking forward to the event this year so we can add to our support of the offshore energy industry. Over 2,500 attendees and 150 exhibitors are expected at this year’s conference. You can’t afford to miss it.

Strength under pressure, corrosion resistance in the hostile offshore environment, and light weight tubing solutions are the kind of benefits Alloy Metals and Tubes International offers to our customers in the offshore energy industry. Our nickel and nickel-chrome or titanium alloys offer solutions to the complex problems and challenges faced in the deep frontier. The high quality mills that we use provide materials that can be trusted to last a lifetime in the deep applications that require long life. Whether you need instrumentation tubing for subsea equipment or topsides, or custom mechanical tubes for MWD or LWD applications; Alloy Metals and Tubes International can deliver the goods. We want to be your 3PL supplier! We can manage your material from the mill through machining, heat treating, manufacturing, testing and inventory monitoring.

We hope to see you in Galveston!

First Quarter 2010 Looking Ahead

Alloy Metals and Tubes International is excited about 2010 and believes that our cyclical business is due to recover!

We enter 2010 in a business climate that is considerably more settled, if not positive, than what we saw a year ago. Excited about the outlook of the future and the potential for growth, we are ready to put our plans into action. Our inventory is replenished, our people are better trained and our energy is focused on servicing the needs of our customers.

Looking back to 2009, we saw the Baker Hughes Rig Count, a weekly compilation of the number of working drilling rigs, dip to a low of 876 in the US at mid year. By mid-January 2010, there are 1,248 rigs working – more than 40% above the 2009 low mark - and we expect that to translate into increased business opportunities for companies in our markets. We see the stabilization of the financial markets and the leveling off of unemployment rates, and it leads us to feel as if the worst has passed.

During the downturn, Alloy Metals and Tubes International remained active. We have been working on bringing new products to the market, training our people, streamlining our processes, and investing in our business with the goal of continuing to provide excellent service to our customers.

Alloy Metals and Tubes International has made our plan for 2010, and it is a positive one. We seek to continue to build our inventory with what our customers have told us they need, while keeping our pencils sharp to be sure we remain flexible and competitive. We will be out in the markets, and we will be working for our customers to fill their needs and find the best products that make them the most successful.

Let us know how we can help you grow in 2010!

Curt Kates, president

Alloy Metals and Tubes International Summer Internship Program

Alloy Metals and Tubes International was pleased to have had Colin Aulds and Christian Tekell as participants in our Summer Internship Program for the summer of 2009.

Aulds, a student at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, and Tekell, a Texas A&M University student, had a wide range of responsibilities throughout the summer. Their responsibilities included tasks in different areas of the company: cleaning and organizing the warehouse, shipping and receiving, inventory control and management, helping with accounting, customer service and sales calls to potential customers.

Alloy Metals and Tubes International seeks to provide a positive work environment in which employees are challenged to learn continually, to think critically, to solve problems and to contribute to the growth of the business. By exposing summer interns to the inner workings of the business, AMTI seeks to provide college students who will be the business leaders of tomorrow with education opportunities, based on a hands-on approach to learning that a classroom setting cannot always offer. In this mutually beneficial relationship, interns get exposure to real business situations and problems while AMTI gets valuable work done by the interns.

“We all had summer jobs as we were going through school,” said Curt Kates, President of AMTI, “and the experiences of some of those jobs are useful even today.” It is the hope of AMTI that summer employees will gain valuable knowledge and experience that will help them in the pursuit of their degrees and in their careers to follow.

You did a great job, Christian and Colin. Best wishes in the coming school year!

Bingham Named Sales Manager

William H. (Bill) Bingham has been named sales manager at Houston-based Alloy Metals and Tubes International, Inc.

Bingham, a native of Houston, will be responsible for leading the AMTI sales effort, participating in outside sales and in developing the company’s sales strategy.

AMTI provides one-stop shopping for a complete list of hard-to-source tubing products. Founded in 1991, the company provides service for customers requiring custom tubes, particularly in the oil and gas sector, and also maintains a strong inventory of instrumentation tubes in its west Houston location.
The company was acquired by local oil and petrochemical executive Curtis R. Kates last May.

“We immediately expanded our sales team upon acquiring the business,” said Kates in a company press release. “Even in the current atmosphere of economic uncertainty, we’re focused on strengthening existing AMTI relationships, as well as building strategic alliances with new customers and suppliers.

“I see tremendous potential for growth, particularly in the nickel and high-nickel chrome alloy market niche.”

As sales manager, Bingham will be part of that building strategy. He brings more than 30 years of experience to his new post at AMTI.
Bingham was stainless tubing manager at Maxpro South in Houston, where he introduced a stainless steel tubing program in 2003, developing customer base and inventory as well as marketing and distribution procedures.

He also worked in sales at PAC Stainless Ltd., was stainless aluminum product manager at Keystone Corporation, and was special projects manager at Tubesales in Houston.

Bingham earned his Bachelor of Business Administration Degree at Sam Houston Sate University in Huntsville. He resides in Houston.

OSEA2008 Oil and Gas Exhibition and Conference in Singapore
December 2008

Curt and Laura Kates greet U.S. Ambassador, Patricia L. Herbold, as she visited the AMTI booth at the OSEA2008 Oil and Gas Exhibition and Conference in Singapore December 2, 2008.

Alloy Metals and Tubes International expanded its horizons by participating in the OSEA2008 Oil and Gas Exhibition and Conference in Singapore on Dec. 2-5. Suntec Exhibition Centre buzzed with activity with representatives from all corners of Southeast Asia and Australia and provided an impressive venue for AMTI President Curt Kates to connect with existing customers and business partners and to reintroduce the company to the expanding Asian market.

U.S. Ambassador Patricia L. Herbold visited the AMTI booth to introduce herself, some of her staff and the current commercial attaché, Todd Avery. Herbold and her team confirmed the favorable business climate in Singapore and detailed the many services provided to American businesses by the Foreign Commercial Service Team in Singapore.

In addition to meeting business contacts, Curt and Laura enjoyed an evening with old friends from Houston now working in Singapore and experienced local hospitality at a wedding reception for a college friend of one of their sons. The OSEA2008 week in Singapore illustrated that it is a big, wide, wonderful world we live in, but also highlighted the reality that it’s a small world after all.

Participation in the show offered Kates and his wife, Laura, the opportunity to meet exhibitors and industry professionals active in every phase of the vibrant Asia-Pacific energy market, which is expected to lead the world in total offshore oil and gas spending this year. Kates sees the vast Asia-Pacific region as a natural fit for AMTI’s products and services and hopes to increase AMTI’s presence there. "The demand for our products is strong in SE Asia and we are excited about adding to the business we do there," Kates said, "especially in our high nickel alloy tubes."

 

New Owner and President of Alloy Metals and Tubes International, Inc.
June 2008

Curtis R. Kates is the new owner and President of Alloy Metals and Tubes International, Inc. Kates brings more than 30 years of experience in the oil and petrochemical business to the company, founded in 1991. Kates has strategic plans for comprehensive growth in AMTI, specialists in nickel and high-nickel chrome alloys.

Kates and the expanded sales team plan to strengthen existing relationships as well as build strategic alliances with customers and suppliers. AMTI provides service for customers who need custom tubes, particularly in the oil and gas industry, and maintains an inventory of instrumentation tubes in the West Houston location. Central to AMTI’s list of products is excellent customer service. The professional, experienced team in Houston is able to solve difficult sourcing and transportation issues, while providing one-stop-shopping for a complete list of difficult to source products.

AMTI is experienced in providing high nickel products to the international markets as well, particularly in Asia. Experience in sourcing of difficult products, experience in compiling complex orders, and experience and excellent business relationships in international shipping provide comprehensive service to meet the needs of international customers.