Steel

The downturn in oil and natural gas prices that has prompted the industry to cut back in the field continues to weigh on the Appalachian Basin’s supply chain as a new wave of layoffs and plant closures is set to take effect in the coming months.

United States Steel Corp. is postponing construction of an electric arc furnace (EAF) at its Fairfield Works in Birmingham, AL, “due to continued challenging market conditions in both the oil and gas and steel industries,” the company said. “On Dec. 14, 2015 oil prices hit an eight-year low in the same week that rig counts dropped by another 28 to a 16-year low of 709. The company continues to feel the effect of these energy market conditions, along with low steel prices and continued high levels of imports. In order to combat these continued challenging global market conditions, U.S. Steel has made the decision to postpone the construction of the 1.6 million net ton EAF facility at Fairfield Works…”

A Pittsburgh-based holding company plans to convert a shuttered cold rolling steel mill in Yorkville, OH, into an industrial services terminal to support oil and gas companies in Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Canadian government officials have started investigations of the imports of oil/gas industry pipe from up to nine nations, echoing efforts by the U.S. Commerce Department to thwart “dumping” of oil country tubular goods (OCTG) for pipe priced below cost to get a foothold on robust North American markets (see Daily GPI, July 15).

Responding to petitions from several U.S.-based steelmakers, the Commerce Department on Friday imposed a stiff tariff on tubular steel (pipe) imported from South Korea and eight other nations. Steel companies and the U.S. steelworkers union lauded the Obama administration’s action.

Ground was broken Monday for a $975 million steel steel tube manufacturing project at The Port of Caddo-Bossier in Shreveport, LA, which is in Haynesville Shale Country. Some of the plant’s output will serve the U.S. oil and gas industry in southern and Midwestern states.

Nearly 100 shale gas-driven chemical industry projects in the United States — worth about $71.7 billion — will generate $20 billion in federal, state and local tax revenue by 2020, according to an analysis released Monday by the American Chemistry Council.

Maine Natural Gas (MNG) has signed a contract with three companies to begin construction of the 12-inch diameter steel pipeline backbone of its natural gas distribution system in Augusta, ME, the Iberdrola USA subsidiary said.

The United States should be exporting more chemicals, glass, steel, aluminum and other products, but the country’s leaders should think long and hard before adding liquefied domestic natural gas to that list, a Dow Chemical executive said Wednesday. While end-user industries fear higher gas prices, producers are looking to all potential demand sources to lift gas prices and make their dry gas operations economic once again.