Ruias-owned Essar Steel, which has executed an order for supply of 9,000 tonne of temperature and pressure resistant steel for UK’s Premier Oil in its North Sea project, expects similar orders for specialised steel plates, particularly in the Europe. Under the Rs 50 crore order, Essar supplied steel for subsea tanks that have to withstand temperature extremes under the sea.
“The North Sea project has established us a major player in the low temperature applications. We expect more such orders from Europe where a lot of offshore work is currently on, including wind towers and oil exploration,” Ravi Singh, Senior Vice President and Marketing Head, Essar Steel told Business Standard.
In the North Sea project, the plates will be used in building oil and gas reservoirs in the sea bed at a depth of 130 metres below sea level, at a temperature lower than minus 40 degree Celsius. With the execution of the North Sea order, Essar Steel became first company in India to have supplied such highly-resistant steel. Specially-resistant steel plates, manufactured by bringing down Sulphur content to avoid Hydrogen-induced cracking, fetch a significant premium in the market.
Essar Steel, an Essar Group company, has a current steel-making capacity of 14 Million Tonne per Annum (MTPA) including 10 MTPA at Hazira in Gujarat.