History US Steel USX United States Steel historic profile

History of US Steel

The US Steel Corporation was established in 1901 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As at end-2021, the company was the 24th largest steelmaker in the world, with output of ~16 million tonnes of liquid steel.

The timeline below covers the history of the firm.

1873: Carnegie Steel founded by Andrew Carnegie.
1901: United States Steel Corporation founded.
1901: Acquisition of Bessemer Steamship Co (Great Lakes iron ore).
1904: Purchase of the Clairton Steel Company.
1906: Construction begins of the Gary Works, Indiana.
1907: Purchase of Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company.
1910: Acquisition of the Columbia Steel Company.
1949: Plans announced for construction of Fairless steelworks, Pa.
1964: Creation of new division - Pittsburgh Chemical Company.
1979: Restructuring - closure of 13 loss-making steel plants.
1982: Acquisition of Marathon Oil.
1983: Further restructuring - closure of many obsolete plants.
1984: Buys US properties and oil reserves of Husky Oil Ltd.
1986: Acquisition of Texas Oil & Gas Corporation.
1986: Jv with POSCO to modernize USX Pittsburg plant (California).
1986: Change of name to USX Corporation.
1990: Cost-cutting consolidation of Texas Oil and Marathon Oil.
2000: Acquisition of VSZ steel works in Kosice, Slovakia.
2001: USX split into 2: United States Steel Corp & Marathon Oil.
2001: Acquisition of LTV Steel’s East Chicago tin mill products plant.
2001: Closure of operations at Fairless Works.
2003: Purchase of bankrupt steelmaker Sartid in Serbia.
2003: Buys steel-related businesses of National Steel Corporation.
2007: Acquisition of Texas-based tubemaker Lone Star Technologies.
2007: Flat rolled capacity expansion - purchase of Canada's Stelco.
2010: Lockouts at Stelco Hamilton works - pension rights issues.
2010: Jv with Kobe Steel - ProTec coating plant investment in Ohio.
2011: Major coke plant refurbishment at Clairton plant, Mon Valley.
2012: Sale of U. S. Steel Serbia to the Serbian Government.
2013: Labour dispute shuts down raw steel production at Ontario mill.
2013: USS and Kobe commission new continuous annealing line at ProTec.
2014: US Steel Corporation removed from S&P 500 index on 1st July.
2015: Some discussion about temporary idling of Granite City Works.
2016: Sale underway of US Steel's Canadian steel assets.
2016: Rumours abound on possible sale of US Steel Kosice in Slovakia.
2016: Agrees terms for sale of U. S. Steel Canada (USSC) to Bedrock.
2017: Finalises restructuring and sale of U. S. Steel Canada.
2018: Announces $750m capex programme to modernize Gary Works.
2019: Announces state-of-art technology investment at Mon Valley Works.
2019: The steel producer buys a minority stake in Big River Steel.
2020: Acquires Remaining 50% Ownership Interest in USS-POSCO Industries (UPI).
2020: Buys remaining 50.1% stake in Big River Steel LLC for $774 million.
2021: Abandons $1.1 billion investment project in the Mon Valley.
2021: Sells Transtar LLC to Fortress Transportation and Infrastructure Investors LLC.
2021: Executes MOU With Equinor for Hydrogen and CCS.
2021: Commences site selection process for new 3 mt flat-rolled minimill in USA.
2022: Pays $1.5 million fine for pollution violations at Edgar Thomson Works.
2022: Indefinitely idles blast furnace at Mon Valley Works.

Notes

Creation of United States Steel in 1901 was from the merger of several different steel companies including Carnegie Steel, Federal Steel [founded by John Morgan in 1898], American Steel & Wire and others. Charles Schwab was appointed by Carnegie to run Carnegie Steel. Elbert H Gary around this time was president of Federal Steel; and it was Carnegie, Morgan, Schwab and Gary who were instrumental in the subsequent creation of U.S. Steel.
1986 name change to USX was in recognition of United States Steel's involvement at this point in steel, energy and other non-steel business.
In the reorganisation of USX in 2001, the United States Steel Corporation took on the same name in which it had been founded 100 years earlier.
The 2010 pension rights negotiations for former Stelco employees arose since U.S. Steel - when it purchased Stelco for $1 billion in 2007 - undertook to the Canadian government that it would meet the pension obligations.
2013: U.S. Steel locked out ~1,000 workers at the Nanticoke, Ontario, facility in April 2013 after they rejected an earlier contract offer. The lockout is the third at the former Stelco facility since US Steel acquired the Canadian company in 2007.
2013: New continuous annealing line at joint venture PRO-TEC Coating Company commissioned in May 2013 will process some of the strongest and most formable grades of steel, with automotive industry focus.
2015: A spokesman for US Steel said that fluctuating oil prices, reduced rig counts, depressed steel prices and unfairly traded imports were driving a consolidation of operations. 2000 jobs were at risk at the Granite City Works.
2016: U.S. Steel Canada Inc. - the former unit of U.S. Steel under creditor protection since 2014 - has steel operations in Hamilton and in Nanticoke. Offers to purchase these Canadian steel plants were being considered in early 2016.
2016: U.S. Steel Kosice employs 12,000 in the east of Slovakia. Press reports speculate that Czech steelmaker Moravia Steel may emerge as a potential buyer.
2016: US Steel announced on 1st Nov 2016 that it had agreed to proposed terms with Bedrock Industries Group LLC ("Bedrock") regarding the sale and transition of ownership of U. S. Steel Canada, Inc. ("USSC") to Bedrock. The transaction is subject to satisfactory completion of customary definitive documentation and requisite court and other approvals.
Agreement for the sale and transition of ownership of U. S. Steel Canada, Inc. (USSC) to Bedrock was finalised in June 2017.
2018: Located on the south shore of Lake Michigan, Gary Works is U. S. Steel's largest manufacturing plant and the largest integrated steel mill in North America. Gary Works has been in operation in Northwest Indiana since 1908. The $750m capital investment programme announced in 2018 will improve the facility's environmental performance and bolster cost competitiveness.
Mon Valley investment comprised over $1 billion in capex to construct a new endless casting and rolling facility at the firm's Edgar Thomson Plant in Braddock Pennsylvania, and a cogeneration facility at its Clairton Plant in Clairton - both part of the company's Mon Valley Works. The cutting-edge endless casting and rolling technology combines thin slab casting and hot rolled band production into one continuous process. This investment made the Mon Valley Works the first facility of this type in the United States.
2019: US Steel announced on 1st October that it had reached an agreement to buy a minority stake in Big River Steel, with an option to take complete control over the next four years, in a deal that could ultimately be valued at more than $2 billion.
2020: UPI produces cold-rolled sheets, galvanized sheets and tin mill products made from hot rolled coil supplied by US Steel. UPI's annual production capability is approximately 1.5 million tons.
2020: U.S. Steel bought a 49.9% stake in Big River Steel in October 2019 for $700 million with an option to acquire the rest of the company within four years.
2021: Decision to cancel Mon Valley Works project was reportedly based on climate change considerations, especially attainment of CO2 emissions targets. Earlier in 2021, US Steel committed to producing no carbon emissions by 2050.
2021: Transtar LLC is US Steel's transaportation division. Its sale in mid-2021 was to Fortress Transportation and Infrastructure Investors LLC for a consideration of $640 million. USX commented that the sale would help the company to focus on its core mining and steelmaking business.
2021: Equinor MOU centres on achievement by US Steel of decarbonization goals. The focus of the MOU is thus a techno-commercial assessment of the potential for carbon capture and storage (CCS) and hydrogen development in the tri-state region of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.
2021: Planned minimill will combine two state-of-the-art electric-arc furnaces with finishing technology that will include a capability to manufacture advanced high-strength steels. The investment will be approximately $3 billion. Construction of the mini-mill is expected to commence in the first half of 2022; steel production is anticipated to begin in 2024.
2022: Edgar Thomson is a steelmaking unit at the Mon Valley Works. The $1.5m fine arose for alleged environmental violations, including apparent failures to properly maintain pollution control equipment.

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History of US Steel