ArcelorMittal Méditerranée Fos sur Mer steel plant

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ArcelorMittal Méditerranée Fos sur Mer steel plant, also known as Sollac-Méditerranée, Société Lorraine de Laminage Continu, For-Sur Mer, is a blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF) steel plant operating in Fos-Sur-Mer, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.

Location

The map below shows the exact location of the plant in Fos-Sur-Mer, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France:

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  • Location: ArcelorMittal Fos-sur-Mer, 13776 Fos-sur-Mer Cedex, France
  • Coordinates (WGS 84): 43.432830, 4.887166 (exact)

Background

The ArcelorMittal Méditerranée - Fos sur Mer steel plant is operated by ArcelorMittal's regional subsidiary, ArcelorMittal Méditerranée, along with ArcelorMittal Méditerranée -Saint Chély d'Apcher steel plant.[1]

History

The ArcelorMittal Méditerranée - Fos sur Mer steel plant was built by Sollac-Méditerranée, a regional subsidiary of the French steel company Sollac.[2]

Solmer (1970–72)

In the mid-1960s the French government pushed Sollac into building a new steel plant at Fos-sur-Mer in the Rhone's Mediterranean delta.[3] Sollac would have preferred a site near Le Havre, since it would have been closer to large markets, but the government's regional development plans took priority.[4] Solmer (Societé Lorraine et Méridionale de Laminage Continu) was formed in November 1970 as a Sollac subsidiary to build and operate the new plant. Sollac was in turn a subsidiary of Wendel-Sidélor.[5] At the same time, Usinor decided to increase the capacity of its Dunkirk plant to 8 million tons per year. Taken with the 4 million tons from Fos-sur-Mer, the two companies would add almost 8 million tons or about 45% of total French output between 1968 and 1973.[6]

By 1971 Wendel-Sidélor was the largest steel producer in France, owning Sacilor, the majority of Sollac, and many smaller facilities. However, its productivity was 40% below that of Usinor.[4] Great hopes were pinned in the Fos-sur-Mer project, but in 1971 Wendel-Sidélor did not have enough revenue to finance the project without assistance. In May 1972 Jacques Ferry of the CSSF helped the government persuade the head of Usinor to help bail out the project, despite his very poor relationship with the head of Wendel-Sidélor. In October 1972 it was agreed that Ferry would head Solmer, which would be jointly controlled by Usinor and Wendel-Sidélor.[5] Solmer was 47.5% owned by Wendel-Sidélor, 47.5% by Usinor and 5% by Thysen.[3]

Industry in crisis (1972–86)

In 1973 Wendel-Sidélor was renamed Sacilor Aciéries et Laminoires de Lorraine and in 1975, Sacilor merged with Marine Firminy.[5] By early 1978 the French steel industry was in crisis, with excess capacity and low prices.[4] After a delay due to the March 1978 elections, the cabinet released details of their rescue plan on 20 September 1978.[5] The government converted part of the accumulated losses of about $8,000 million into state equity shareholding, and covered the remaining losses with loans and guarantees. In effect the companies had been nationalized.[7] Usinor shares were devalued by 33% and Sacilor's by 50%.[4] The unions at once called for a 24-hour stoppage at the Sacilor-Sollac plants throughout Lorraine (including the Fos Sur Mer plant) on 25 September 1978, but there was little they could do to prevent layoffs.[5]

Usinor subsidiary (1986–2002)

In 1986 Usinor and Sacilor were combined under one holding company headed by Francis Mer. The group accounted for 95% of French steel production.[6] The Usinor-Sacilor group undertook an internal reorganization in 1987 into four specialized divisions: Sollac for thin flat products, Ugine for special flat and stainless steel products, Unimetal for long products and Ascometal for special long products.[8] The new Sollac, the largest subsidiary of the group, included the flat products operations of the formerly competing Usinor and Sollac companies.[6] In 1988 the company started to base profit sharing on productivity improvements, with the share calculated separately at each location.[4]

On 1 February 2000 Usinor was restructured geographically. Sollac-Atlantique, Sollac-Lorraine and Sollac-Méditerranée were now fully independent subsidiaries. Sollac-Méditerranée included the French plants at Fos-sur-Mer and Saint-Chély-d'Apcher, and also included plants in Spain, Italy, Turkey and Portugal.[2] In February 2002 Usinor was merged with Arbed (Luxembourg) and Aceralia (Spain) to form Arcelor and in 2006 Arcelor was merged with Mittal Steel to form ArcelorMittal.[9] As of 2008 the subsidiaries were named Société Arcelor Atlantique et Lorraine and Sollac Méditerrannée. The companies were involved in a dispute with the French government over the greenhouse gas emission allowance trading scheme, in which different treatment was being applied to the steel sector and to the chemical and non-ferrous metal sectors.[10]

Sollac Mediterranee was later renamed ArcelorMittal Mediterranee SASU.[11]

Transition

In February 2022, ArcelorMittal announced that it would be transitioning its Fos sur Mer plant away from the BF-BOF production route as part of a €1.7 billion investment in its French facilities.[12] The company will build out 2000ttpa of EAF capacity at the plant with the aim of starting up the new equipment by 2027 and phasing out two of its three blast furnaces at the Dunkirk plant by 2030.[13]

Plant Details

Table 1: General Plant Details

Phase Plant status Announced date Construction date Start date Pre-retirement announcement date Retired date Workforce size Power source
Main plant Operating[14] 1974[15] 2500[16]
Closure Operating pre-retirement[17] [18] 2022-02[17] 2030[17]
Expansion Announced[19] 2022-02[19] 2023[20] 2027[18] Magnelis 12 MWc solar farm planned (45,000 solar panels).[21]

Table 2: Ownership and Parent Company Information

Phase Parent company Parent company PermID Parent company GEM ID Owner Owner company PermID Owner company GEM ID
Main plant ArcelorMittal SA [100.0%] 5000030092 [100%] E100001000348 [5%] Arcelormittal Mediterranee SAS[22] 4298162738 E100000002454

Table 3: Process and Products

Phase Steel product category Steel products Steel sector end users ISO 14001 ISO 50001 Main production equipment Detailed production equipment
Main plant semi-finished; finished rolled[14] slabs; hot rolled products; coil[14] automotive; building and infrastructure; energy; steel packaging; tools and machinery; transport[23] yes[24] yes[24] BF, BOF[25] 1 coking plant; 1 sinter plant; 2 BOF (1 to be shutdown by 2030)[26][27][28][25][19]
Closure semi-finished; finished rolled[14] slabs; hot rolled products; coil[14] automotive; building and infrastructure; energy; steel packaging; tools and machinery; transport[23] BF, BOF[17] 2 BOF[17]
Expansion semi-finished; finished rolled[14] slabs; hot rolled products; coil[14] automotive; building and infrastructure; energy; steel packaging; tools and machinery; transport[23] EAF[19] 1 EAF (unknown capacity)[18]

Table 4: Crude Steel Production Capacities (thousand tonnes per annum)

*Please see our Frequently Asked Questions page for an explanation of the different capacity operating statuses.
Phase Capacity operating status* Basic oxygen furnace steelmaking capacity Electric arc furnace steelmaking capacity Nominal crude steel capacity (total)
Main plant operating 2550 TTPA[29] 2550 TTPA[29]
Closure operating pre-retirement 2550 TTPA[29] 2550 TTPA[29]
Expansion announced 2000 TTPA[18][30] 2000 TTPA[18][30]

Table 5: Crude Iron Production Capacities (thousand tonnes per annum)

*Please see our Frequently Asked Questions page for an explanation of the different capacity operating statuses.
Phase Capacity operating status* Blast furnace capacity Nominal iron capacity (total)
Main plant operating 2000 TTPA[31] 2000 TTPA[31]
Closure operating pre-retirement 2000 TTPA[31] 2000 TTPA[31]
Expansion announced

Table 6: Upstream Products Production Capacities (thousand tonnes per annum)

Phase Sinter Coke
Main plant 6800 TTPA[32] 1650 TTPA[32]
Closure
Expansion

Table 7: Actual Crude Steel Production by Year (thousand tonnes per annum)

Year BOF Production Total (all routes)
2020 3000 TTPA[33] 3000 TTPA
2021 3400 TTPA[14] 3400 TTPA
2022 3100 TTPA[34] 3100 TTPA

Blast Furnace Details

Table 8: Blast Furnace Details

Unit name Status Announced date Construction date Start date Furnace manufacturer and model Current size Current capacity (ttpa) Decarbonization technology Most recent relining
1 operating pre-retirement[35] unknown unknown 1974[15] Saint-Gobain (parts)[36] 3000 m³[37] 2000[31] unknown 2016[37]
2 operating[29][38] unknown unknown 1977[15] Saint-Gobain (parts)[36] 3000 m³[37][39] 2000[31] unknown 2011-09-19[36]

Articles and Resources

Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of steel power plants, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Steel Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.

References

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  7. Price, Victoria Curzon (1981-11-26), Industrial Policies in the European Community, Palgrave Macmillan UK, ISBN 978-1-349-16640-4, Retrieved on: Oct. 20, 2017
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  9. Our History, ArcelorMittal, Retrieved on: Oct. 19, 2017
  10. EUR-Lex - 62007CA0127 - EN, EUR-Lex, retrieved 2017-10-20
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  21. https://web.archive.org/web/20221209052147/https://industry.arcelormittal.com/market-segments/steel-for-energy/LaFossettesolarfarm. Archived from the original on 09 December 2022. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |archive-date= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
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  23. 23.0 23.1 23.2 (PDF) https://web.archive.org/web/20221012031140/https://corporate.arcelormittal.com/media/xm4blr5z/annual-report-combined-2021.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 October 2022. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  24. 24.0 24.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20210804204138/https://dumas.ccsd.cnrs.fr/dumas-02308062/document. Archived from the original on 04 August 2021. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |archive-date= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  25. 25.0 25.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20220318130845/https://flateurope.arcelormittal.com/ourmills/704/fos. Archived from the original on 18 March 2022. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  26. https://web.archive.org/web/20210411183300/https://www.us.endress.com/en/Endress-Hauser-group/Case-studies-application-notes/renovation-blast-furnace-arcelormittal. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  27. (PDF) https://web.archive.org/web/20220121144844/https://factbook2018.arcelormittal.com/~/media/Files/A/Arcelormittal-Factbook-2018/AM_FactBook_2018.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 January 2022. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  28. (PDF) https://web.archive.org/web/20200719070003/https://prd-wret.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/atoms/files/myb3-2015-gm.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 July 2020. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  29. 29.0 29.1 29.2 29.3 29.4 (PDF) https://web.archive.org/web/20220318115528/https://www.eurofer.eu/assets/Uploads/Map-20191113_Eurofer_SteelIndustry_Rev3-has-stainless.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 March 2022. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  30. 30.0 30.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20221205022533/https://france.arcelormittal.com/neutralite-carbone/recyclage. Archived from the original on 05 December 2022. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |archive-date= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  31. 31.0 31.1 31.2 31.3 31.4 31.5 https://web.archive.org/web/20221107140802/https://www.argusmedia.com/en/news/2387737-arcelormittal-to-idle-bf2-at-fossurmer-plant. Archived from the original on 07 November 2022. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |archive-date= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  32. 32.0 32.1 (PDF) https://web.archive.org/web/20220922003449/https://storagearcelormittalprod.blob.core.windows.net/media/pevb5bum/arcelormittal_fb2014.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 September 2022. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
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