The US shale-gas revolution, which has revitalised chemicals companies and is rebalancing North American energy supplies is also attracting a wave of investment in new steel plant.
Austrian steelmaker Voestalpine is considering building a $661million plant in the US because of the cheapness of shale gas. Domestic giant Nucor plans to start up a $750million Louisiana project mid-year.
According to Bloomberg, there are at least five new US steel plants under consideration or being built that would use gas instead of coal to purify iron ore, the main ingredient in steel.