SeAH Steel announced on April 6 that it completed the installation of 24-inch stainless welded steel pipe (STS steel pipes) pipe manufacturing facilities for the first time in Korea and will begin volume production of STS steel pipes in earnest. The Korean steelmaker plans to become a strong player in the LNG pipeline market by starting mass production in earnest in the future.

According to SeAH Steel, the facilities were installed on a site of about 340,000 square meters at SeAH Steel’s Suncheon plant with an annual production capacity of 10,000 tons of 24-inch STS steel pipes. There are three main pipe production methods -- roll bending, press bending, and roll forming. The facilities are the first and largest as roll forming facilities in terms of outer diameter in Korea. ASTM A252 Pipe

SeAH Steel’s introduction of 24-inch STS pipe manufacturing facilities is the third in the world after Germany and China. Unlike other roll bending/press bending manufacturing methods that use thick plates as raw materials, the roll forming method uses coils as a raw material. This method enables steelmakers to manufacture STS steel pipes at pipe manufacturing facilities from forming, welding and heat treatment to straightening at once.

Line Steel Pipe Previously, SeAH Steel has been highly evaluated for its technological prowess in manufacturing steel pipes for LNG transportation. The company has participated as a supplier in most LNG projects in the United States, starting with the Sabine Pass LNG Project, the first shale gas development LNG project in the United States. On top of that, following LNG projects in Canada in 2020 and Mozambique in 2021, SeAH Steel participated in the Northern Gas Field Project in Qatar, the world’s largest single STS project last year, and is currently supplying its products through Samsung C&T.