US Steel postpones Alabama EAF mill project

Pittsburgh-based United States Steel Corp. (US Steel) has announced it will postpone construction of an electric arc furnace (EAF) at its Fairfield Works in Birmingham, Alabama. The company cites “continued challenging market conditions in both the oil and gas and steel industries” as its reason.

Throughout much of 2015, as US Steel announced cutbacks and closings at its integrated complexes in Alabama and Illinois, it continued to indicate that the construction of the EAF remained on track.

But in assessing the current market, US Steel now says that “on Dec. 14, 2015, oil prices hit an eight-year low in the same week that rig counts dropped by another 28 to a 16-year low of 709. The company continues to feel the effect of these energy market conditions, along with low steel prices and continued high levels of imports. In order to combat these continued challenging global market conditions, U. S. Steel has made the decision to postpone the construction of the 1.6 million net ton EAF facility [until] market conditions improve.”