Nov. 2--PITTSBURG -- In a welcome contrast to local factory closures, a venture of manufacturing companies from the United States and South Korea has opened a $135 million East Bay plant here that will make big pipes for the energy industry.

United Spiral Pipe's new state-of-the-art factory in Pittsburg will employ about 150 people, with room to expand. The plant produces large-diameter pipes used for transmission of natural gas and oil.

The 340,000-square-foot welded pipe factory is a joint venture of American steel titan U.S. Steel Corp., South Korean steel maker POSCO and South Korean tube products maker SeAH Steel Corp.

The opening of the new plant comes at a time when the looming shutdown of the NUMMI auto factory in Fremont has ripped open numerous economic wounds.

"These are good jobs and these are well-paying jobs," said Pittsburg Mayor Nancy Parent.

The wages of factory workers will range from $17 to $26 an hour, said Vas Shapkaroff, United Spiral's vice president of administration and finance. That does not include benefits. The upper range of the wages exceeds the East Bay's average hourly wage during 2009.

The pipe factory was built next to the existing USS-POSCO Industries steel plant in Pittsburg. The plant was built on land that is owned by USS-POSCO, which is a joint venture of U.S. Steel and POSCO.

United Spiral Pipe will employ 120 factory workers and 25 to 30 administrative employees.

"We love

it here," said Rachel Catalina, an Antioch resident who is one of the new plant's factory workers. "The plant is pretty high-tech and it's a fun place to work."

Executives from the joint venture partners said the plant is an investment they can embrace, despite an economy that has nose-dived.

"There is a degree of doubt and uncertainty about the economy, but with this kind of project, you have to have a long-term view," said John Surma, U.S. Steel's chairman and chief executive officer. "Long-term, the U.S. economy is a pretty good bet. Life is full of risks."

A local economic upswing is expected, because manufacturing jobs often trigger related activity.

"We expect this venture will boost the economy of the city of Pittsburg," said M.S. Lee, president of United Spiral Pipe.

The plant can produce 300,000 tons a year of line pipe. If the plant reaches that production capacity, that would be 7 percent to 10 percent higher than conventional pipe factories, said Rod Simpson, a United Spiral project manager.

"This kind of high-productivity factory is really what the economy needs," Surma said.