This was the second case where all thick plates of a single project were supplied altogether, and POSCO is the only global steel company to have done so. The first being was for FPSO unit of the Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) where 90,000 tons of thick plates were supplied.

The 150,000 tons of thick plates supplied was approximately 58% of the entire 260,000 tons of steel materials required in Shell’s LNG development project structure, and is equivalent to an amount that can build 7 buildings at the POSCO Center scale which used 20,000 tons of thick plates.

The ‘Shell’s FLNG Project’ to which the company successfully supplied all thick plate materials is a 3 billion USD scale order won by Samsung Heavy Industries from Shell in 2010 for the world’s first LNG drilling, production, and storage facility (FLNG: Floating Liquefied Natural Gas).

It is a mega-scale offshore plant that has a length of 468 m, a width of 74 m, and a height of 100 ml, producing 3.5 million tons of LNG annually, with the capacity to store 450,000㎥ of LNG which is equivalent to three days of all LNG consumption in Korea.

▲ Image of the world’s first LNG drilling and FLNG facilities led by Shell

POSCO was able to supply all thick plates to the massive project as it was recognized for excellent materials, timely supply, and responsiveness to urgent requests.

POSCO satisfies strict safety and quality standards applied to energy steel materials used in offshore and deep sea plants such as the FLNG, as they must be able to be processed for application to various parts, have corrosion resistance against water, and have high toughness and solidity of steel materials, as they must firmly connect each part of the facilities and equipment.

To supply all products within the appointed date of delivery, the company also prepared all necessary thick plate production lineups for the project and minimized defect rates.

In addition, the ability to efficiently respond to urgent steel material orders due to inevitable frequent changes in design played a factor in being able to supply all the materials.

This project is particularly being seen as an exemplary case where joint correspondence with the client company led to successful execution.

POSCO has successfully carried out steel material development for LNG partitions and low temperatures, as well as applicability tests and the WPQT (welding procedure qualification test) for shipyard drydock equipment through joint technology cooperation with Samsung Heavy Industries.

POSCO prepared a project task force where all related departments of quality control, manufacturing, production, and transportation logistics participated so that there was no delay or mishaps in supply through production status monitoring as well as quality and supply management.

The company will continue to proactively provide support at early project stages so that client companies can receive large-scale overseas orders, and plans to provide a firm system to be able to supply excellent quality steel materials at the right time when needed.

Furthermore, considering energy steel materials as a future match for the steel industry, the company expects to see results in its efforts of strengthening R&D and investment, through marketing in the field, and to also strengthen its position in the energy steel material market.

The global energy steel material market has been supplied by select steel companies of Europe and Japan with high technology levels and excellent supply records, but POSCO has rapidly increased market share by successfully completing major global projects based on its technology.

Meanwhile, the company has completed development of 23 types of steel, with an additional 60 types of energy steel material developments planned for completion.

Further, POSCO family companies POSCO E&C, Daewoo International, and Sungjin Geotec, by supplying steel materials concurrently with energy plant orders, has the goal of reaching a market share of more than 10% in the global energy steel material market by 2020.

Between 6th and 9th May, POSCO joined the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston, U.S.. During the conference, POSCO promoted energy steel products created by its own specialized technologies. Let’s find out how global players reacted to POSCO’s top-notch technologies, which would lead the future of steel industry in coming years.

POSCO participates in the world’s biggest Offshore Technology Conference

Established in 1969, OTC is the biggest international conference for offshore operation technology. For this year, 2,500 companies from 110 countries participated in the event. POSCO has been joining the conference for the last six consecutive years since 2008.

POSCO sets up a joint booth with five affiliates, emphasizing its ‘Value Chain’

During the event, a joint promotional booth was set for POSCO E&C, POSCO Specialty Steel, POSCO Plantec, Sungjin Geotec and POSCO Engineering. At the booth, POSCO’s energy steel plates, such as thick steel plates and API-X120, and a miniature model of offshore plant structure were exhibited to highlight the leading global steelmakers’ value chain.

POSCO catching the public eye with cutting-edge products

1,500 visitors, including Gwan-sub Lee, head of industry policies at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, major oil companies, EPC companies and energy equipment manufacturers called at the venue and showed great interests in POSCO’s competence in developing steel plates for energy uses.

POSCO also caught many eyes with its special reception for the major oil and EPC companies with a presentation illustrating the advantages of POSCO’s energy steel plates and POSCO subsidiary companies’ business competence, followed by a traditional Korean performance. POSCO also signed an MOU with Fugro, the world’s No.1 geotechnical company, as well as discussing cooperation methods and sales strategies for POSCO’s energy steel plates with Shell and the Korea National Oil Corporation.

During the reception ceremony, In-Hwan Oh, Head of Carbon Steel Business Division of POSCO, addressed “By participating in this conference, POSCO is aiming to maximize the synergy with Korea’s top 3 major shipbuilders and other equipment manufacturers through becoming a powerful supporter of oil and gas industries and a total solution provider.”

With the market data and contents of counseling collected from the conference, POSCO will strengthen the firm’s business and promotional activities in order to achieve the accompanied growth with other Korean corporates. In addition, POSCO will expand the sales of energy steel plates to the global top players of the energy industry by raising the brand awareness as well.