The world's largest steel-maker ArcelorMittal is expected to commence production at its new mill at Jubail, in Saudi Arabia, in the first half of 2012, a news report has revealed.
The $700 million plant will produce 600,000 metric tonnes of pipes a year for the oil and petrochemical industry, a report in Arabic daily Al-Watan said, citing Mohammed Al-Jabr, ArcelorMittal's Managing Director in Saudi Arabia.
The company plans to invest up to $3 billion in Saudi steel projects over the next five years and is conducting studies to build a factory north of Jubail at Ras Al-Khair, where the government is setting up a mining hub, Al-Jabr told the newspaper.
ArcelorMittal said in February, 2007, that it would hold 51% in a joint venture with the Bin Jarallah group to construct a seamless tube plant in Jubail, which would fabricate 500,000 metric tonnes of steel tubes and pipes a year.