POSCO eyes deeper steel, energy ties with global peers

POSCO Group, South Korea’s steelmaking giant, will further bolster its competitiveness in the global steel market and energy value chains through tighter partnerships with international peers, its chairman said during his three-day visit to Australia.

POSCO Group Chairman Chang In-hwa met with Jayant Acharya, chief executive of India's JSW Steel, and Liu Jian, chairman of China's HBIS Group, in separate meetings during his visit to Australia for a biannual general meeting of the World Steel Association, the company announced on Thursday.

The leaders explored various joint venture opportunities and technological collaborations, the company added.

Especially, Chang and Acharya discussed the two companies’ joint project to build an integrated steel mill in India.

Last October, they signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to cooperate on steel, secondary battery materials and renewable energy sectors and build the integrated steel mill with an annual capacity of 5 million tons.

At the general meeting, Chang also called for deeper ties to accelerate the development of low-carbon production processes and expand demand.

After the meetings, the POSCO Chairman visited Senex Energy's gas fields in Queensland, according to the company.

POSCO International Corp., the general trading and energy exploration unit of POSCO Holdings Inc., acquired Senex Energy in 2022 for approximately 442.4 million Australian dollars ($26.3 million).

Senex is engaged in gas and oil exploration, crude oil production and oil pipeline transportation.

It is seeking to triple its annual natural gas production from 20 petajoules (PJ) to 60 PJ by 2026, equivalent to approximately 1.2 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

This expansion is expected to supply about 10% of eastern Australia's domestic natural gas demand.​

Write to Sookyung Seo at skseo@hankyung.com

Jennifer Nicholson-Breen edited this article.