Oct. 31, 2012
Germany’s Benteler Building Tube Mill in Louisiana
Benteler Steel/Tube plans to build a new hot rolling tube mill in Caddo, La., strengthening the company’s position in the North American oil country tubular goods market. The facility, which will cost an estimated $900 million, is the first U.S. production facility for Germany’s Benteler Steel/Tube. Groundbreaking on the new facility is scheduled for the spring of 2013 and completion is planned for the second half of 2015.
“We are pleased to announce that Northwestern Louisiana will be home to the first U.S. production facility for Benteler Steel/Tube,” says Matthias Jaeger, president and CEO Benteler Steel/Tube GmbH. “With the growing demand for high-quality steel tubes for exploratory drilling in the U.S., and Louisiana’s proximity and access to energy customers, Benteler Steel/Tube’s Caddo Parish plant is poised to play an important role in meeting U.S. domestic energy needs.”
The decision to construct a production site in the U.S. is an important element of the company’s global business growth strategy. Currently, more than 25 percent of Benteler Steel/Tube products flow into North America. With a renewed focus by the U.S. government to reduce energy imports and increase domestic production capacities, demand for Benteler’s products in the U.S. is expected to increase, company officials say.
Benteler Steel/Tube is a specialist in the manufacturing and processing of seamless hot-rolled steel tubes and seamless cold-drawn precision steel tubes, serving international customers in the automotive, OCTG/line pipe, heat transfer, hydraulics/precision engineering and construction sectors.