Severstal and RUTGERS Group set up a joint venture RUTGERS SEVERTAR
17.04.2012
OAO Severstal, one of the world’s leading vertically
integrated steel and steel related mining companies, and RÜTGERS Group,
Europe’s leading manufacturer of chemical raw materials made from coal tar, set
up a joint venture.
An agreement to establish RÜTGERS SEVERTAR was
countersigned
in Moscow on September 23, 2011. RÜTGERS Group will contribute 51% of the
joint venture's charter capital.
The total amount of investment in the joint venture is
US$26.6 mln. The venture will manufacture vacuumized pitch, industrial oils,
and naphthalene*.
Those will be produced through deep conversion of coal tar
at the existing and newly-created facilities of the coal-tar processing unit of
the Cherepovets Steel Mill coke and by-product operations. The new venture's
technology will comply with European environmental standards.
Both domestic and foreign aluminum industries will become
the major consumers of vacuumized pitch. Both Russian and foreign chemical
companies will purchase oils and naphthalene. According to tentative forecasts,
the share of export shipments will amount to about 60% of the joint venture's
total sales.
RÜTGERS SEVERTAR is planned to reach its ultimate operating
rate in 2013.
Following the signature of the shareholder agreement, a
tender was held to select the chief designer for joint venture construction
activities. Based on the results of the tender, OOO Uhde (Dzerzhinsk), a
subsidiary of Germany's Uhde GmbH, which, in turn is a ThyssenKrupp company,
was selected as the chief designer.
As part of the countersigned contract, OOO Udhe has designed
the first stage of the construction project. A temporary charging installation
for medium temperature pitch - an important element of the processing chain -
has been designed and is currently under construction. The pitch storage unit
is approaching completion of its design stage.
After closing the deal, Udhe began collecting background
data for designing the following facilities of Stage II of the construction
project: a coal tar distillation unit, a naphthalene purification section, and
a pitch granulation section. Construction of those facilities is planned to
commence within the first six months of 2012.
* Vacuumized (coal tar) pitch is a solid product made
by processing coal tar. It is a homogeneous thermoplastic substance of black
color and is used for manufacture of pitch coke and pitch binder. Those, in
turn, are used in the making of anode paste in manufacture of aluminum,
electrodes and electrode rods; structural coal-graphite materials, pressed
coal-based fuels, rolled roofing material, pitch-based plastic materials and
lacquer to protect pipes, containers, metal structures against corrosion
etc.
Industrial oils serve various purposes and are used in the
making of technical carbon (carbon black) utilized as an enforcing agent to
produce synthetic rubber and other plastic materials. Almost 70% of all
technical carbon produced is used for manufacture of tyres.
Coal tar oil is used as an antiseptic agent for impregnation
of wood to protect it against biodegradation and disintegration. It is a good
wood preservative utilized in construction, railway repairs, metal mining
industry, and communication and power line poles.
***
ОАО Severstal is one of the world’s leading vertically
integrated steel and steel related mining companies, with assets in Russia, the
USA, the Ukraine, Latvia, Poland, Italy, Liberia and Brazil. Severstal is
listed on MICEX-RTS and the company’s GDRs are traded on the
LSE. Severstal reported revenue of $13,573 million and EBITDA of $3,263
million in 2010. Severstal’s crude steel production in 2010 reached 14.7
million tonnes. www.severstal.com
RÜTGERS group is Europe’s leading manufacturer of chemical raw materials
made from coal tar and has eight international production sites. We produce
essential raw materials for the aluminium and steel industries from a
by-product of hard coal(e.g. bituminous coal, anthracite) coking.
http://www.ruetgers-group.com/en
