Steel Products Prices North America

Keystone XL Pipeline Delayed (Again)
Written by Sandy Williams
October 8, 2013
The proposed Keystone XL pipeline from Canada’s oil sand region to the Gulf Coast has been delayed until 2014. In a securities filing, TransCanada said it “no longer expects that the decision on the presidential permit required for the project will be made by year end and the corporation anticipates that its previously disclosed expected in-service date of 2013 will be similarly delayed.” The company applied to the U.S. Department of State in 2012 for the permit that is required to build a cross-border pipeline.
The Keystone XL pipeline will travel 1,179 miles from Hardisty, Alberta to Steel City, Nebraska. The 36” diameter pipeline will have a capacity of 830,000 barrels of oil per day, supporting Canadian producers as well as oil producers from the Bakken region of Montana and North Dakota.
From Steel City, additional TransCanada projects will extend the pipeline to Gulf Coast. In an easterly direction, the Key Stone Pipeline would connect Hardisty with the Midwest ending near Patoka, Illinois. In all, the pipeline will extend nearly 2000 miles providing additional access to oil refineries in the Midwest and along the Gulf Coast.
TransCanada’s $2.3 billion Gulf Coast Pipeline Project is currently underway and is expected to be completed near the end of 2013.

Sandy Williams
Read more from Sandy WilliamsLatest in Steel Products Prices North America

Market says cutting interest rates will spur stalled domestic plate demand
Market sources say demand for domestic plate refuses to budge despite stagnating prices.

SMU Price Ranges: Some predict bottom is near as big discounts dry up
Sheet prices were mixed this week as some mills continued to offer significant discounts to larger buyers while others have shifted toward being more disciplined, market participants said.

SMU Price Ranges: Tags mixed as uncertainty weighs on market
SMU’s hot-rolled (HR) coil price held steady this week while prices for other sheet and plate products declined.

Nucor spot HR list price unchanged at $875/ton
Nucor kept its weekly list price for hot-rolled (HR) coil unchanged this week, following a price bump of $10 per short ton (st) last week.

SMU price ranges: Flat-rolled balloon continues to leak
Sheet and plate prices were flat or lower again this week on continued concerns about demand and higher production rates among US mills.