Jindal Shadeed Iron & Steel Oman LLC (JSIS) has advanced commissioning of its 5 million tonne/year flats green steel investment to 2026 from 2030, Kallanish learns from an exclusive interview with JSIS chief executive Harssha Shetty. For its current steelworks in Sohar where 2.5m t/y of longs is produced, the company is working with Hydrogen Rise of Germany to start production of its first green steel, in a smaller scale of slightly less than 100,000 t/y, at the latest by 2025. The current technology in Sohar allows up to 18% green hydrogen to be used and with some modification this can be expanded to 30%.

JSIS has applied to the government for a land allocation of more than 100 square kilometres for a solar farm near to its Sohar facility. The company is also prepared to expand its direct reduced iron production from 1.8mt to 2mt in the 2023 fiscal year following technological upgrades, notes Kallanish.  

"Gulf Cooperation Council imported nearly 4.5 million tonnes of flat steel out of a demand of 7.3mt in 2021. By 2030 the demand is expected to increase to 11.5mt. The demand can easily absorb the investments in flats and I do not see stress on the demand and supply balance," Shetty says. 

"We are the largest steel family in India and our track record of new projects has been commissioned always on time. We are building a green hydrogen ready steel plant in Duqm-Oman. We are assessing to complete not only the first phase but all phases by 2026. And our investment into flats green steel will cater to global markets. Moreover, green steel into Europe will be incentivised following recent agreement EU reached on CBA [carbon border adjustment] ", Shetty observes. 

"We want to complete our 5mt flats green steel investment in Duqm. While we will be waiting for the green hydrogen, we signed a natural gas allocation agreement with the government for 59 mmbtu on 4 December for the plant to start operations. We expect by 2026 green hydrogen supply will partly start and there will be a transition from 100% natural gas to 100% green hydrogen," he adds.

"Our sales volume in 2022 is higher than 2021 and exact figures will come out by the end of the current year. Despite Fed's rate hikes, US economy has been rock solid. China with 1 billion tonnes steel production and consumption, is coming out of the Covid restrictions. That is going to be a major driver in demand. We expect a fast recovery in demand in 2023 despite concerns in Europe. The elasticity in production is lesser than elasticity in demand. That is what our experience has been in terms of post covid in large economies, large demand setters. Also, second largest steel consumer India, which is over 120mt, sees healthy steel demand. There are a lot of projects yet to be announced in India. In the Middle East, in the past one month, we started to see positive sentiments. Most of our customers are seeing good demand for the coming six months and they [customers] do not have a concern of demand for the coming six months. The only concern is how the price will move. Beyond six months I don't have the visibility yet," concluded Shetty in an answer to Kallanish's questions.