Supply of HF-ERW Line Pipe for Bass-Gas Project in Australia

Nippon Steel Corporation (President: Akira Chihaya) and Mitsui & Co.， Ltd. (President: Shoei Utsuda) have obtained an order from Clough Engineering Limited， an Australian engineering firm， to supply approximately 19，000 tons of High Frequency Electric Resistant Welded （HF-ERW）steel pipes. The sour-gas-resistant X65， 14-inch outside-diameter pipes will be used to build a sub-sea pipeline for the BassGas Project in Australia. Delivery of the steel pipes will take place between February to June 2003.

The BassGas Project will produce approximately 700 million m3 per year sales quality natural gas from the Yolla Field； situated 147 kilometres from the Victorian coastline in Bass Strait. The Project will construct a 147 kilometre sub-sea pipeline， a 32 kilometre onshore pipeline from the shore crossing to a gas processing plant. The BassGas Project is a Joint Venture partnership between Origin Energy as Operator (37.5%)， Mitsui(12.5%) and others.

Prior to receiving this order， Nippon Steel won an order to supply HF-ERW line pipes (approx. 30，000 tons of X70， 18-inch OD pipes) for the 260-km portion of the total 680-km SEA Gas Pipe Line for the overland transport of gas from Port Campbell， Victoria， to Adelaide， South Australia. Nippon Steel will thus be the supplier of HF-ERW pipes for the two consecutive natural gas trunk lines to meet the growing energy demand in southeastern Australia.

These order receipts follow that of last year for Shell’s Golden Eye Project in the North Sea to supply approximately 18，000 tons of sour-gas-resistant X65， 20-inch OD HF-ERW pipes. Nippon Steel has thus successfully obtained successive orders for the supply of steel pipes to stringent specifications.

Backed by its long experience in the manufacture of steel pipes， Nippon Steel enjoys a high reputation among customers for supplying large amounts of high-grade HF-ERW pipes that offer outstanding weld reliability in harsh environments as well as excellent economy. The pipes for the Bass Gas Project are also high-strength， high-corrosion-resistant HF-ERW steel pipes， requiring technical sophistication that can withstand sea-bottom laying. Quality assurance including corrosion resistance and short lead time were required by Clough Engineering Limited. Nippon Steel has cleared the lead time requirement and obtained an excellent evaluation from Cough Engineering， demonstrating its outstanding integrated production expertise from steel-making to pipe manufacture.

On the basis of these impressive orders for the supply of severe-specification steel pipes， Nippon Steel will continue to expand the sales of high-quality HF-ERW steel pipes.

For further inquiries about this release， please call:
(Mr.) Takashi Kanke
Public Relations Center
Corporate Secretariat Division
Nippon Steel Corporation
Tel: 03-3275-5021