Japanese steelmaker JFE Steel Corporation, Japan-based Marubeni-Itochu Steel Inc. (MISI) and Senaat GHC, a private joint stock general holding company owned by the government of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, have announced that they have agreed to establish a joint venture company in Abu Dhabi, called Al Gharbia Pipe Company, to manufacture and sell large-diameter (LD) welded steel pipes, mainly for the energy industry. Production is planned to start in October 2018.
The new company will manufacture and sell high-grade large-diameter steel pipes to energy companies in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the six member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), with an annual production capacity of 240,000 mt and an approximate investment of $300 million.
According to the issued statement, the UAE and other GCC member countries are highly competitive in terms of drilling costs and the sizes of their oil and gas reserves. With the development and production of oil and gas forecast to be robust in these countries, the demand for high-quality steel pipes for pipelines to transport these resources is expected to remain stable.