SeAH to supply steel pipes for LNG export base in Qatar via Samsung

 

SeAH Steel Corp., the largest steel pipe manufacturer in South Korea, signed a contract on April 25 to offer Samsung C&T Corp. its stainless (STS) welded steel pipe products in a deal worth a total 172 billion won ($147.8 million). The products will be delivered by the second half of 2023.

It is the world’s largest deal of STS welded steel pipes for a sole project, SeAH said. Samsung C&T will use the products for its Qatar-based liquefied natural gas (LNG) export base construction project.

The Samsung Group’s engineering and construction unit won the 1.8 trillion won project, which includes three 187,000-cubic-meter LNG storage tanks, three loading facilities, and transport pipes, from state-owned Qatar Petroleum in March 2021. The construction is scheduled for completion at the end of 2025.

SeAH has been expanding its steel pipe business for the global LNG storage and transport sector. It was the first Korean steel pipe provider to the Sabine Pass LNG Project in 2014, the first shale gas development project in the US.

In September 2020, SeAh and Korean steelmaker giant POSCO jointly won a bid to supply 12,000 tons of stainless steel pipe for a liquefied natural gas project in Kitimat, Canada. Separately, SeAH Steel also secured orders for 60,000 tons of welded carbon steel pipes for the project in Canada. Last year, it supplied heavy wall steel pipes to the Mozambique LNG Project, the African country's first onshore LNG development.   

In general, carbon steel is used in crude oil pipelines, but LNG requires an STS steel pipe that can handle extremely low temperatures as it is shipped at 100 degrees below zero. With strong resistance to low temperatures and high pressure, SeAH’s STS welded steel pipes boast a wide range of outside diameters between 0.5 inches and 197 inches and wall thickness between 1 millimeter and 128 millimeters, the Korean steelmaker said.

In February, the company announced record-high performances for 2021, with 2.8 trillion won in annual sales and 297.3 billion won in operating profit on a consolidated basis. Sales and operating profit surged by 23.4% and 343.1%, respectively, from 2020. The performance was boosted by oil and gas businesses and infrastructure construction in North America, SeAH Steel Holdings said.

Write to Kyung-Min Kang at kkm126@hankyung.com
Jihyun Kim edited this article.