Steel Mills
USS Wrapping Up Furnace Outages, Idled Capacity to Remain Shut
Written by Michael Cowden
November 2, 2021
U.S. Steel has completed or has nearly completed two blast furnace outages, a company spokeswoman confirmed.
But furnaces that have been idled will remain so, the Pittsburgh-based steelmaker’s top executive said.
U.S. Steel has completed an approximately one-week outage on the B blast furnace at its Granite City Works outside of St. Louis, the spokeswoman said.
That outage began on Oct. 1, as SMU previously reported.
And a 38-day outage on the No. 6 furnace at U.S. Steel’s Gary Works is nearing completion, the spokeswoman said.
The outage on No. 6 started on Sept. 30, meaning it should be completed on or around Nov. 7.
The B furnace has daily capacity of 3,600 tons, and the No. 6 furnace has daily capacity of 3,450 tons, according to SMU’s blast furnace status table.
Granite City has two blast furnaces, A and B. The A furnace has been indefinitely idled since April 2020.
And A furnace is not coming back online anytime soon, nor are the blast furnaces at U.S. Steel’s Great Lakes Works outside of Detroit that were idled in 2019 and 2020, U.S. Steel President and CEO David Burritt said during an earnings conference call with analysts last week.
Great Lakes Works has three blast furnaces: A-1, B-2, and D-4.
“We’re informed by what our customers want. And if our customers want the additional capacity at Great Lakes and they’re willing to pay for that capacity, we’re happy to open that up and have them pay to decarbonize it,” Burritt said.
“It does not look like that will happen. So that’s been idled indefinitely, the same thing as Granite City works,” he added.
By Michael Cowden, Michael@SteelMarketUpdate.com
Michael Cowden
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