On October 24, Chinese steelmaker Baosteel announced that five of its products have been officially approved by Anglo-Dutch oil multinational Royal Dutch Shell, marking a significant advance for Baosteel's supplies of high-grade line pipe for the global market. The products in question include hot rolled steel plate used in production of line pipe, heavy steel plate used in production of line pipe, UOE line pipe, high frequency welded (HFW) line pipe, and coated line pipe.
In 2008 and 2009 respectively, Baosteel's HFW line pipe and UOE line pipe were approved by Shell. In 2012, Shell sent experts to Baosteel for the re-examination of the above two products and for the evaluation of the other three new products, and has now confirmed its approval of all five products.