Offshore staff
DHAHRAN, Saudi Arabia – Saudi Aramco and Baoshan Iron & Steel Co. have agreed to establish a steel plate manufacturing complex in Ras al-Khair Industrial City.
This is one of four new special economic zones recently announced by Prime Minister Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.
The complex, combining Aramco’s energy and industrial services and Baosteel’s steel plate capability with support from the Public Investment Fund, would be the first facility of its kind in the Kingdom and the GCC region, Aramco said.
It would have a steel plate production capacity of up to 1.5 MMt per year and would be equipped with a natural gas-based direct reduced iron (DRI) furnace and an electric arc furnace, with a target of reducing CO2 emissions from the steel-making process by up to 60% compared to a traditional blast furnace.
The DRI plant would also be compatible with hydrogen without the need for major equipment modifications, so CO2 emissions could potentially come down by up to 90%.
Target industrial sectors include pipelines, shipbuilding, rig manufacturing, offshore platform fabrication, and tank and pressure vessel manufacturing, and the renewable energy and marine sectors.
05.05.2023
