Liberty Steel Hartlepool wins milestone contract with Saudi Aramco

Liberty Steel Hartlepool, part of the GFG Alliance, has secured a milestone contract with a Saudi Arabian gas and oil company to supply steel pipelines for a multi-billion-pound offshore development.

The order will see the Hartlepool mills, which were acquired by Liberty almost two years ago, producing over 16km of heavy-duty steel pipeline for the expansion of the Marjan field.

While Liberty have landed a number of major contracts with American clients and North Sea oil and gas producers, the Aramco deal marks a new breakthrough for the company.

The contract is the first deal that the Hartlepool steel mills have won from the Middle Eastern Kingdom since the acquisition.

Saudi Aramco is the largest gas and oil developer in the world by revenue, and Liberty Steel hopes that the prestigious Middle Eastern contract will help to establish the company’s presence in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region.

Liberty, in conjunction with Sumitomo Corporation Middle East FZE, will supply the Marjan project with 16.5 km of specialist Submerged Arc Welded Linepipe (SAWL) from its 42-inch UOE mill, based in Hartlepool. The highly resilient offshore pipeline is due for delivery in the final quarter of this year.

Martyn Curnow, commercial director of Liberty Steel Hartlepool, commented: “Our facility has a proven global track record of managing projects with stringent technical requirements.

“The team, led by Steve Brooke in the UK and Saad Jakani in the United Arab Emirates, worked tirelessly with the client to ensure that the demanding specification was fully understood and delivered a robust technical proposal which we are sure was a key consideration in the evaluation and acceptance of our offer.”

Saudi Aramco is planning to boost the Marjan and Berri fields’ production capacity by 550,000 bpd of crude oil and 2.5 billion standard ft3/d of gas over the coming years.

It’s hoped that the success of the Marjan contract will lead to further opportunities in Saudi Arabia and the wider Gulf area, putting Hartlepool back on the map as a supplier to the region for the first time in years.

Mr Curnow added: “It is extremely pleasing to re-establish the Hartlepool mill as a supplier in the region following a significant period of absence. This success is testament to the hard work and commitment shown by our employees in all areas of the business.”