HOUSTON, Sept. 27, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Hydril's (Nasdaq:HYDL) Houston operations were shut down Thursday, September 22 through Monday, September 26 due to Hurricane Rita and resumed normal operations at all three facilities Tuesday morning, September 27. These facilities employ approximately 50% of Hydril's worldwide manufacturing workforce.
Chris Seaver, President and CEO stated, "We shut down operations in Houston at close of business on Wednesday, September 21 to allow our Houston based employees to prepare for Hurricane Rita. Our Houston facilities were not damaged, although they were without power on Saturday and Sunday. We delayed reopening until today in order to let our employees take care of their personal situations."
Our Westwego, Louisiana premium connection manufacturing plant closed on August 27, before the arrival of Hurricane Katrina, and resumed operations on September 12. Operations were interrupted again for evacuation on September 22 due to Hurricane Rita, and started back up on Monday, September 26. This plant is currently running at about 60% of the production level prior to Hurricane Katrina, due principally to local curfew and infrastructure issues.
Hydril, headquartered in Houston, Texas, is engaged worldwide in engineering, manufacturing and marketing premium connection and pressure control products used for oil and gas drilling and production.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning expected future results. These statements relate to future events and the company's future financial performance, including the company's business strategy and product development plans, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions. These risks, uncertainties and assumptions, many of which are more fully described in Hydril Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter-ended June 30, 2005 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, include but are not limited to the impact of changes in oil and natural gas prices and worldwide and domestic economic conditions on drilling activity and demand for and pricing of Hydril's products, the impact of geo-political and other events affecting international markets and trade, Hydril's ability to successfully develop new technologies and products and maintain and increase its market share, the impact of international and domestic trade laws, the loss of or change to distribution methods of premium connections in the U.S. and Canada, overcapacity in the pressure control industry, and high fixed costs that could affect the pricing of Hydril's products. These factors may cause Hydril's or the industry's actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.
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