Written by: Sandy Williams Voestalpine will invest 550 million euro ($718 million) for construction of a DRI plant in San Patricio County near Corpus Christi, TX. The facility will be cable of producing 2 million metric tons of DRI and HBI (hot briquetted iron) annually. A start-up date in early 2016 is projected. Half […]
Written by: Sandy Williams This year Nucor plans to spend $280 million on its Louisiana DRI facility and approximately $260 million towards its natural gas related investments. Essar Steel Minnesota is in talks to build a joint venture DRI plant. Voestalpine and Northstar Bluescope Steel are both considering DRI facilities. Severstal just postponed a DRI […]
Written by: Sandy Williams Start up of the Esmark Yorkville cold-rolling plant is on hold waiting for “a less volatile steelmarket” according to Esmark. Esmark acquired the renamed Ohio Cold Rolling Company from defunct RG Steel along with a 50 percent interest in the nearby tin plate production plant Ohio Coatings Co. in October 2012. […]
According to Baker Hughes data from March 8th, 2013, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,752 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This number represents a decrease of 5 rigs from last week. Compared to last year the 1,752 count is a decrease of 221 rigs. Canadian rigs decreased by […]
Written by: Sandy Williams Klockner and Co. is undergoing a major restructuring program to shrink its European line to a profitable core by eliminating 60 sites, 40 of which have already been sold or closed. Klockner EBITDA before restructuring was €139 million in 2012 (down from €227 million in 2011) and €62 million after restructuring. […]
According to Baker Hughes data from March 1st, 2013, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,757 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This number represents a decrease of 4 rigs from last week. Compared to last year the 1,757 count is a decrease of 232 rigs. Canadian rigs decreased by […]
According to Baker Hughes data from February 22nd, 2013, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,761 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This number represents a decrease of 1 rig from last week. Compared to last year the 1,761 count is a decrease of 220 rigs. Canadian rigs increased by […]
Written by: Sandy Williams The Arkansas Senate and House questioned a panel of economic development and finance officials last week on plans for the $1.1 billion Big River Steel project in Osceola, Ark. The meetings were a preliminary step in legislature approval of a $125 million bond issue for the proposed steel plant. The state’s […]
According to Baker Hughes data from February 15th, 2013, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,762 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This number represents an increase of 3 rigs from last week. Compared to last year the 1,762 count is a decrease of 232 rigs. Canadian rigs increased by […]
Written by: Sandy Williams The booming business in natural gas drilling is causing a flurry of new production facilities for the manufacture of seamless OCTG (oil country tubular goods) pipe in the United States. Most recently, Tenaris SA, a Luxembourg-based producer of steel pipes for the oil and natural gas industry, announced plans to build […]
According to Baker Hughes data from February 8th, 2013, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,759 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This number represents a decrease of 5 rigs from last week. Compared to last year the 1,759 count is a decrease of 230 rigs. Canadian rigs increased by […]
According to Baker Hughes data from February 1st, 2013, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,764 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This number represents an increase of 11 rigs from last week. Compared to last year the 1,764 count is a decrease of 233 rigs. Canadian rigs increased by […]
Written by: Sandy Williams Nucor Corporation announced today that fourth quarter earnings were $136.9 million and flat compared to net earnings of $137.1 million in the same quarter of 2011. Earnings were up in the fourth quarter from $110.3 million in the third quarter of 2012. Total net earnings for 2012 were $504.6 million, compared […]
According to Baker Hughes data from January 25th, 2013, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,753 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This number represents an increase of 4 rigs from last week. Compared to last year the 1,753 count is a decrease of 255 rigs. Canadian rigs increased by […]
Written by: Sandy Williams New construction starts leapt 23 percent in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $530 billion according to data released by McGraw-Hill Construction. Total constructions starts for 2012 grew 6 percent to $463.6 billion for a moderate gain at a faster rate from the previous two years. Construction growth overall […]
According to Baker Hughes data from January 18th, 2013, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,749 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This number represents a decrease of 12 rigs from last week. Compared to last year the 1,749 count is a decrease of 259 rigs. Canadian rigs increased by […]
Written by: Sandy Williams Steel Market Update is a member of an association connected to the construction industry called HARDI. HARDI stands for Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International. HARDI and The Institute for Trend Research (ITR), an economic forecasting company, work together to gather economic data to provide a forecast to the HARDI members […]
According to Baker Hughes data from January 11th, 2013, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,761 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This number represents a decrease of 1 rig from last week. Compared to last year the 1,761 count is a decrease of 226 rigs. Canadian rigs increased by […]
Written by: Sandy Williams Natural gas is providing cost savings for steel plants while at the same time creating more demand for steel products used in pipelines, drilling equipment and rigs. It is a win-win situation for the steel and the natural gas industries One of the ways natural gas is utilized by the steel […]
According to Baker Hughes data from January 4th, 2013, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,762 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This number represents a decrease of 1 rig from last week. Compared to last year the 1,762 count is a decrease of 245 rigs. Canadian rigs increased by […]
According to Baker Hughes data from December 28th, 2012, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,763 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This number represents a decrease of 11 rigs from last week. Compared to last year the 1,763 count is a decrease of 244 rigs. Canadian rigs decreased by […]