(Photo: The stainless steel seamless pipes and tubes of SeAH CSS)

SeAH Gulf Special Steel Industry (“SGSI”), a joint venture established by SeAH CSS and Saudi Aramco, has completed its establishment process and is ready to enter the Middle East market.

SeAH CSS announced on the 8th that it entered into a joint venture agreement with Dussur*, of which large shareholder is Aramco, in last September to build a USD 230 million (appx. KRW 290 billion) stainless steel seamless pipe and tube plant in Saudi Arabia and completed the incorporation process after having submitted the corporate combination reports to 6 countries, including Korea, EU, Saudi Arabia and China, and gone through detailed negotiations between the relevant parties.

SGSI will operate Saudi’s first stainless steel seamless pipe and tube manufacturing in King Salman Energy Park (“SPARK”), a new international hub of energy business Aramco is building located in the east of Saudi Arabia. Its plant built on an approximately 165 thousand square meters of land is expected to manufacture 17,000 tons of the highly value-added stainless steel seamless pipes and tubes every year. Construction for the plant is to commence in the fourth quarter this year and the plant is expected to start its commercial operation in the first half of 2025. SGSI is expected to become a hub for SeAH Group’s expansion not only into Saudi Arabia, but also the Middle East, as it is located near the big-ticket national project area of the Saudi government and will be supported by the broad steel product portfolio offered by the SeAH Group.

On the other hand, the four companies under SeAH Group, including CTC, a subsidiary of SeAH CSS, and INOX TECH, a subsidiary of SeAH Steel Holdings, was certified by Aramco as the new vender for four products, including the precision stainless steel pipes of CTC and the stainless steel welded pipes of INOX TECH. This event where the four companies were recognized by Aramco for their high quality products has proven the stable partnership between SeAH Group and Aramco. The precision stainless steel pipes manufactured by CTC are highly value-added products with strong corrosion resistance performance improved by the heat treatment. Together with the stainless steel seamless pipes and tubes of SeAH CSS, the precision stainless steel pipes are expected to play the role of the advance guards for capturing the Middle East market, as they are widely used by the oil and gas industry.

A person from SeAH CSS commented that “As the incorporation process of SGSI is completed, SeAH CSS is expected to make a full-scale investment in the stainless steel seamless pipe and tube plant in Saudi Arabia. The company will make full-scale efforts to establish itself in the Middle East market based on the solid partnership with Aramco evidenced by the fact that Aramco certified SeAH Group companies as its vendors.”

A person from SeAH CSS commented that “As the incorporation process of SGSI is completed, SeAH CSS is expected to make a full-scale investment in the stainless steel seamless pipe and tube plant in Saudi Arabia. The company will make full-scale efforts to establish itself in the Middle East market based on the solid partnership with Aramco evidenced by the fact that Aramco certified SeAH Group companies as its vendors.”

* Dussur: An investment institution dedicated to industrial development and owned by Aramco, PIF (a sovereign fund of Saudi Arabia) and SABIC (a subsidiary of Aramco). It nurtures the joint ventures established based on the investment partnership with the global corporations into the companies with strong future values.