Jindal Saw in joint venture with Oman steel plant

26 Feb 2007

Mumbai: Jindal Saw International and UAE''s Shadeed Iron and Steel have entered into a joint venture to set up a one million tonnes per annum seamless tube plant in Oman.

The new plant is being set up in Sohar Industrial Port. Thirty eight per cent of the main plant at Sohar has been completed, and commercial production will start by the third quarter of 2008. A consortium of foreign, local and regional banks will finance the $4 billion mega project, Gaith Hamil Al Gaith, chairman, Shadeed Iron and Steel, said.

The seamless tube plant is targeting more than 50 per cent of the region''s market of seamless tubes, Prithvi Jindal, vice chairman of Jindal Saw International, said, adding that demand is increasing sharply because of large-scale expansion projects in the oil and gas industry.

"We are investing over $1 billion in the first phase of this project, aiming to acquire half of the Middle East market," he said.

Jindal said his company was always looking to establish joint ventures with local companies.

The MoU will support the plans of Shadeed as it will be the first seamless tube plant in the region, Al Gaith said.