Essar commissions USD 15-million steel service centre in Indonesia

June 25, 2008

The Essar Group’s steel plant in Indonesia, PT Essar Indonesia (PTEI), has commissioned its most advanced service centre in the firm’s cold rolling complex near Jakarta. Built at a cost of USD 15 million, the centre will have an annual capacity of 0.3 million tonnes and include units like hot rolled and cold rolled slitters, four corrugation lines, floor deck, cut-to-length lines and truss making lines. These units are able to process hot rolled, pickled, cold rolled and coated steel products. This is the only facility in Indonesia to offer pickled, cold rolled, galvanised and service centre facility under one roof.

Given its sophisticated range of capabilities, the service centre will cater to customer segments that expect excellent quality and superior service. These typically include manufacturers of automotive equipment, components, white goods, enamel & cookware, precision tubes, electrical stamping, furniture, construction and electrical appliances & panels. Such customers are predominantly local and use steel in smaller quantities.

The centre will use PTEI’s pickled, cold rolled and galvanised products will be available in the thickness ranging from 0.2 mm to 3.2 mm, width from 20 mm to 1,380 mm and length from 100 mm to 6,000 mm.

About PT Essar Indonesia
PTEI operates a cold rolling complex with cold rolling capacity of 4,00,000 tonnes per annum and galvanizing capacity of 150,000 tonnes per annum. It is a part of Essar Global Limited.

About Essar Global
Essar Global Limited (EGL) is a diversified corporate group with businesses in the manufacturing and services sectors of Steel, Energy, Power, Telecommunications, Shipping, Ports & Logistics, Mining & Mineral Resources, and Construction. EGL has a firm value of approximately USD 50 billion and employs 38,000 people worldwide. More than 15 percent of Essar’s workforce is in the Americas.

For more information, contact:
Manish Kedia, Sr. Vice President, Essar, India at +91 98197 30092
B Ganesh Pai, General Manager, Essar, India at +91 98197 30225
William Clutterbuck, Maitland, UK: +44 207 379 5151

Essar Steel is a global producer of steel operating out of India, North America, the Middle East and Asia. It is a fully integrated flat carbon steel manufacturer - from iron ore to ready-to-market products. It has a current capacity of 8.5 million tons. With Essar’s expansion in India, Asia and North America, capacity is expected to rise to about 20 million tons by 2012. Essar successfully acquired Algoma Steel in Sault Ste Marie, Canada, in 2007, where following a capital expenditure program and incorporating improved work processes, it has increased production from 2.5 MTPA to 3.4 MTPA in just 10 months.

Essar Energy operates a fully integrated oil company of international size and scale in India. Its assets include development rights in proven oil & gas blocks, a 12 million tons per annum refinery, currently being expanded to 34 million tons per annum, and over 1,500 fuel stations across India. Plans are under way to increase exploration acreage, further acquire / build oil refineries internationally, and open a total of 5,000 fuel stations.

Essar Power operates five power generation plants with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts. Its portfolio includes gas and coal fired plants and renewable energy sources. Essar is currently increasing its generation capacity to 6000 MW of coal and gas fuelled plants, with an investment of approximately USD 5 billion. It also plans to enter the power transmission and distribution markets.

Essar Telecommunications is the single largest investor (with a 33% interest) in Vodafone-Essar, a joint venture with Vodafone Group and one of India’s largest cellular service providers, with 46 million subscribers, currently adding 2 million subscribers every month. Essar owns ‘The MobileStore’, India's largest national retail chain of mobile phone stores. Essar has a major presence in the telecom infrastructure space with one of the largest investments in tower companies. Essar operates India’s 4th largest business process outsourcing business operating under the Aegis brand, with 20 centers spread across USA and India staffed by over 20,000 employees.

Essar Ports, Shipping & Logistics is a comprehensive, end-to-end player in maritime transportation, ports and terminals, logistics, contract drilling and allied services. It is a global shipping and logistics provider with sea and surface transportation services, oilfield drilling services, dry and liquid terminals, tankage and associated pipelines.

Essar Projects is a global engineering procurement and construction company based in Dubai with offices in India and China. The Essar Engineering Center specialises in detailed engineering and design for large projects. Global Supplies specialises in procurement. Construction executes projects for industrial plants, civil & irrigation projects, pipe laying – both offshore and onshore, marine construction and highways and expressways. Heavy Engineering Services manufactures pressure vessels, reactors, vacuum vessels and cranes. Essar Constructions undertakes projects on a turnkey basis, with a pipeline division certified at ISO 9001.

Essar Mining & Minerals owns iron ore and coal mines in India and overseas. It has acquired the U.S. based Minnesota Steel that has iron ore reserves of approximately 1.5 billion tons.

Essar Steel